Evidence of meeting #27 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was prorogation.
A recording is available from Parliament.
The Clerk
Mr. Lukiwski, we can hear you, although your connection doesn't seem to be great.
Conservative
Tom Lukiwski Conservative Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK
That's the problem. I've been working with IT for the last 20 minutes. IT can't seem to figure out why the audio coming through my headset is not working. I can hear the audio from the meeting perfectly clear through my headset, but you're not receiving my audio through the headset. IT can't seem to figure out the problem.
The Clerk
Mr. Lukiwski, I'm being told by the technician here in the room that your microphone is properly selected.
Liberal
Conservative
Tom Lukiwski Conservative Moose Jaw—Lake Centre—Lanigan, SK
All right. Thank you so much.
Sorry for the interruption, everyone.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
No problem.
If there are more issues like yours, I'll suspend temporarily to resolve them.
Go ahead, Ms. Petitpas Taylor.
Liberal
Ginette Petitpas Taylor Liberal Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB
I think I'm jinxed. Last Thursday this was the point I was at, and there was a point of order. There must be something in the air.
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
Monsieur Therrien, you're on mute. We can't hear your point of order.
We have just had Mr. Therrien drop off.
The Clerk
Madam Chair, do you want to suspend for a minute or so while we try to figure out what's going on? He may just have dropped off and will try to come back, but we'll try to ascertain that.
Liberal
Ginette Petitpas Taylor Liberal Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I'm going to continue saying why I really think Minister Freeland should appear before our committee.
First of all, she could explain to us once again why the Prime Minister and cabinet decided to prorogue Parliament. Even more important, she could answer questions since she chaired the cabinet committee responsible for the federal response to the coronavirus disease, or COVID‑19. She could also answer questions on the funding programs she introduced since she's also Minister of Finance.
Again, very briefly, if we are privileged, and Minister Freeland appears before the committee, if we all agree that would be a good idea—
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
I have a point of order, Madam Chair.
I fully agree. I'm listening to member Petitpas Taylor and I appreciate this, but we do know an invitation had already been sent to her several months ago.
I'm wondering if the clerk could advise us as to whether the invitation has been responded to. Have any members of the Liberal Party and the government talked to them to say we're waiting for them to respond? Maybe they picked up the phone and asked them to come to committee.
Thank you.
The Clerk
Madam Chair and Ms. Vecchio, an invitation has been offered to both Minister Freeland and Minister Chagger, among others. We have yet to receive a formal response.
I have periodically checked with both their offices to see if they're any closer to a response, but I still do not have a formal response from either, or from any of the other witnesses.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
I will give the floor back to Ms. Petitpas Taylor. Maybe she'll have something to add.
Liberal
Ginette Petitpas Taylor Liberal Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB
I would like to thank my colleague, Ms. Vecchio, for that question. It's an important question. I think we could also possibly follow up on that matter to see if there's a reason for the delay, because, again, we are making some good arguments as to why we feel she should be here and could answer some important questions with respect to the whole issue of prorogation, why there was a reset and what the thought process behind all that was.
Thank you so much for that, Ms. Vecchio.
I'll come back to why I think having Minister Freeland here.... As the member of Parliament for Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, a proud Atlantic Canadian and a proud New Brunswicker, I would really have a lot of specific questions to ask her with respect to the whole restart and, as I've indicated, the economic programs that we've put in place to help all Canadians during this very difficult time.
We have indicated that we've asked Canadians to stay home. We recognize that we are not out of the woods yet when it comes to COVID-19. We know that, yes, vaccines are not just on the horizon; they are here. However, not everyone is vaccinated. As a little side note, I'm extremely pleased and thrilled to say that my husband got vaccinated last night. He got on an emergency list and was able to sneak in. Again, I'm very, very grateful. He's had no side effects. He's a trooper. I have to say, we need to get to herd immunity, and it's going to take some time before we get there.
I would have a lot of questions for Minister Freeland. We've asked people to stay home. We continue in some areas to ask people to stay home, to continue to follow the public health guidelines. Many of my friends in Ontario are going through a very difficult time right now within their communities, as are our colleagues in Alberta and British Columbia. The programs that have been put in place have been put in place for a reason and that is to keep Canadians safe.
If Minister Freeland came to committee, I would certainly have questions with respect to, first and foremost, the Canada emergency response benefit. In my province alone, in my little province of New Brunswick, of 750,000 New Brunswickers, 165,000 have benefited from the CERB. I'd have some questions for her with respect to all of that. I'm sure that many of you would have questions with respect to what has been done in your province and how your constituents have been impacted by it or not.
Again, the whole issue of moving forward with continuing some specific COVID response programs related to the pandemic but also related to prorogation would be key.
