Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Dec. 3rd, 2021

[Eric Duncan, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and congratulations. I look forward to working with you.

On this motion to strike other committees and so forth, there's an amendment that we would like to propose for this.

I move that the motion be amended by adding the following: “provided that the recommendations for the report referred to in paragraphs (e) and (g) of the Order adopted by the House on Thursday, December 2, 2021, shall be presented to the Chair no later than 5 p.m. on Wednesday, December 8, 2021, and that the Chair be instructed to present the report to the House no later than Thursday, December 9, 2021”.

I have, for the clerk, copies of that amendment for colleagues.

Just to speak to that, we all want committees back, and I think we want to do it in as reasonable a way as possible. The time frame of the dates provided in the amendment will allow the House administration not to be jammed in the work of getting committees struck. It will have the time and resources to reasonably do so.

I put forward that amendment to the government's motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Is there any discussion on the amendment?

Go ahead, Mr. Fergus.

[Greg Fergus, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

It's more for procedure, Madam Chair.

I just want to make sure that this is also distributed electronically.

In this way, those who attend virtually will also have an opportunity to read the amendments moved by Mr. Duncan.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

I have a point of order, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Go ahead, Mr. Gerretsen.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

I just want to let you know that Ms. Sahota and I have our hands up in the virtual world.

Just as it was raised by Mr. Fergus, I would like to see a copy of this, because Mr. Duncan referred to two items by letter only. I just need a second to digest all of this.

Can we get this sent to us by email and have a few minutes with it before we vote on it, please?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

We understand that it is being emailed shortly.

[Eric Duncan, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

It's part of our hybrid world. It's on its way to the clerk to be sent to you.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

We're all friends around here. You could have sent it to us in advance, Eric.

[Eric Duncan, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

I just don't like bugging you any more than I have to, Mark.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

That's fair.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

I want to ask a question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Yes, Ms. Sahota.

[Ruby Sahota, Liberal, Brampton North, ON]

Thank you.

I just wanted to ask Mr. Duncan and opposition members whether the whips have been in discussion on this item, since it relates to them. Have all of the whips had a conversation about this amendment? Is there any knowledge of that?

[Eric Duncan, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

I would say it's part of the ongoing conversations back and forth. I think there have been conversations about establishing committees, and there have been discussions on the time frames of how best to do that.

I don't think there has been specific consultation on the specific date, but the general will is to make sure that we can get committees up as soon as possible and to make sure, by this time frame, that we have the House resources to accommodate that request. It's in the effort of both getting committees up and also making sure that the House administration is not jammed.

One of the unique things about opening meetings is that it takes two clerks, for example. Is that correct, Justin, in terms of resources?

[The Clerk]

Madam Chair, I can answer that.

Generally, Mr. Duncan, you're correct. It would usually take two clerks, but that's for the purposes of conducting the chair's election when it's an in-person meeting, because we have a secret ballot. However, because we're under the hybrid rules, one clerk can do it, because we do the election differently. Had there been more than just one candidate for chair or vice-chairs, I would have put each motion separately until one was adopted.

The requirement wasn't in place to have two clerks for this meeting.

[Eric Duncan, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

Thank you for the clarification.

Still, in terms of other House administration resources required, I think having this deadline would accommodate and respect being able to do it in an organized manner for the House administration as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Mr. Gerretsen, I see that your hand is still raised. Go ahead.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

I lowered my hand, and then I raised it again.

I don't know if Mr. Duncan answered the question that Ms. Sahota asked, which was whether discussions had happened between the whips' offices. As we know, a lot of this stuff is worked out and ironed out between the various offices in advance. Then we come here and we have all of that background before doing this.

My take on this is that we're taken a little offside on this, so we're not in a position to vote on this right now. Perhaps we should move on. We can suspend on this particular item, move on to the rest, and then come back to this after our whips' offices have had an opportunity to chat about this and to look at it. Hopefully, there aren't any more surprises like this. Otherwise, unfortunately, this is going to drag on. I was half joking when I said you could have sent this stuff to us in advance, because then it gives us an opportunity to look at it. We're certainly not going to vote on something until we fully understand it and the implications of it.

Madam Chair, perhaps you will ask the committee if we could move on to the next item and then come back to this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

I will definitely do that. Thank you, Mr. Gerretsen, for that intervention.

I do want to acknowledge that in order for us to proceed with committees—I know the conversations that have taken place with regard to most parties wanting committees to advance—this is a motion that we do want to see advanced or adopted before we finish.

Mr. Barrett, go ahead.

[Michael Barrett, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes, ON]

Thanks, Madam Chair. Congratulations on your election. I'm looking forward to working with all members of the committee.

With respect to the amendment proposed by Mr. Duncan, this allows us only to achieve exactly what the order of the House has prescribed and is consistent with discussions among the House officers of all recognized parties in the House. I appreciate that the specific language in front of us may be new to some of the members at the table, having just seen it for the first time. We'll undertake to provide amendments at the earliest possible opportunity to all colleagues at the committee, going forward. I expect that this language will be supported by the other party whips, because this is in keeping with the order from the House and allows us to have all committees stood up before Christmas.

If it is possible for us to continue on and deal with the other items, that's perfectly fine, but it's certainly imperative that we ensure that the order of the House is fulfilled in spirit and in writing.

Thanks.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Unless there are any dissenting thoughts, I think it's okay, then, for the whips to go offline with this. We'll continue with the next point.

Mr. Gerretsen, go ahead.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

I was just going to say that I believe during our discourse on this they have had an opportunity to do that. I think we are in a position to vote on it now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Do you want to lower and raise your hand again one more time right now?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!