I call this meeting to order.
Welcome to meeting number three of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs.
I'd like to start the meeting by providing you with some information. This is especially for the new members.
The committee is now sitting in a hybrid format. You can participate in person or by video conference. Witnesses must always appear by video conference. All members, regardless of their method of participation, will be counted for the purpose of quorum. The committee's power to sit is limited, however, by the priority use of House resources, which is determined by the whips. All questions must be decided by a recorded vote, unless the committee disposes of them by unanimous consent or on division. Finally, the committee may deliberate in camera, provided it takes into account the potential risks to confidentiality inherent in such deliberations with remote participants.
Today’s meeting will be made available via the House of Commons website. As a reminder, the webcast will always show the person speaking rather than the entirety of the committee.
To ensure an orderly meeting, I'd like to outline a few rules for everyone to follow.
For those participating virtually, members and witnesses may speak in the official language of their choice. Interpretation services are available for this meeting. You have the choice of English, French or the floor at the bottom of your screen.
Before speaking, click on the microphone icon to activate your own mike. When you are done speaking, please put your mike on mute to minimize any interference. As a reminder, all comments by members and witnesses should be addressed through the chair.
Should members need to request the floor outside your designated time for questions, you should activate your mike and state that you have a point of order. If members wish to intervene on a point of order that has already been raised by another member, you should use the “raise hand” function. This will signal to the chair your interest to speak and create a speakers list. To do so, you should click on “participants” at the bottom of your screen and click on the “raise hand” function.
When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, the use of headsets with a boom microphone is mandatory for everyone participating remotely.
Should any technical challenges arise, please advise the chair. Please note that we may need to suspend for a few minutes as we resolve those technical difficulties to ensure that members are able to participate fully.
For those participating in person, proceed as you usually would when the whole committee is meeting in person in a committee room. Should you wish to get my attention, signal me with a hand gesture, or at an appropriate time, call out my name. Should you wish to raise a point of order, wait for an appropriate time, and then clearly indicate to me that you wish to raise a point of order.
With regard to the speakers list, the committee clerk and I will do our best to maintain a consolidated order of speaking for all members, whether they are participating virtually or remotely.
Today I'd like to start by welcoming a new member to our team. Mr. Daniel Blaikie will be joining us permanently, I believe. He will be replacing Ms. Blaney who will be missed, of course. I had a conversation with her yesterday. She also said that she will miss being on this committee. At a future time we may have her back; time will tell, I guess.
We were very busy in the first couple of meetings—I'll put it that way—and weren't able to do proper introductions of our wonderful clerk and our analyst. A new analyst has joined the team. I was hoping that they could perhaps introduce themselves to the members properly.
I apologize for not being able to take the time to do this at the last meeting because we had to get into committee business.
We will start with Mr. Justin Vaive.
Please introduce yourself to the committee and then have the analysts do so as well.
