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

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Justin Vaive]

Honourable members of the committee, I see a quorum.

I must inform members that the clerk of the committee can only receive motions for the election of the chair. The clerk cannot receive other types of motions, entertain points of order or participate in debate.

We can now proceed to the election of the chair. Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the chair must be a member of the government party.

I am now ready to receive motions for the chair.

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

I nominate the Honourable Bardish Chagger as chair of this committee.

[The Clerk]

Are there any other motions?

Seeing none, it has been moved by Mr. Fergus that Bardish Chagger be elected as chair of the committee.

(Motion agreed to)

Pursuant to the House order of Thursday, November 25, I declare Ms. Chagger elected. I invite Ms. Chagger to take the chair.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

First of all, thank you for the warm welcome. It is indeed an honour and a privilege to be with you, and I look forward to our getting some good work done.

If the committee is in agreement, I will invite the clerk to proceed with the election of the vice-chairs.

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Clerk]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the first vice-chair must be a member of the official opposition.

I am now prepared to receive motions for the first vice-chair.

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

I nominate Eric Duncan.

[The Clerk]

Are there any further nominations?

Seeing none, it has been moved by Mr. Barrett that Mr. Duncan be elected as the first vice-chair.

(Motion agreed to)

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the second vice-chair must be an opposition member from a party other than the official opposition.

I am now ready to receive motions for the second vice-chair.

Mr. Fergus, you have the floor.

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

Mr. Clerk, I nominate Alain Therrien.

[The Clerk]

Thank you, Mr. Fergus.

It has been moved by Mr. Fergus that Mr. Alain Therrien be elected as second vice-chair.

Are there any other motions?

Seeing none, I declare the motion carried.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Go ahead, Sherry.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm delighted to see you as chair of this committee.

As it's the first time I'm on this committee, I'd like to propose some routine motions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Could I do some routine business before that? I just need to put some words on the record.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Yes. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

These are really serious responsibilities of the chair, which I must do diligently. I want to make sure that everyone is welcomed to meeting number one of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs.

Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the House order of November 25, 2021. Members are attending in person in the room and remotely using the Zoom application. The proceedings will be made available on the House of Commons website. So you are aware, the webcast will always show the person speaking rather than the entirety of the committee.

Today's meeting is also taking place in the webinar format. Webinars are for public committee meetings and are available only to members, their staff and witnesses. Members enter immediately as active participants. All functionalities for active participants remain the same. Staff will be non-active participants and can therefore view the meeting only in gallery view.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind all participants in this meeting that taking screenshots or photos of your screen is not permitted, even though I know that you probably want every single memory possible, but they will have to live in your hearts and minds.

Given the ongoing pandemic situation and in light of the recommendations from health authorities, as well as the directive from the Board of Internal Economy on October 19, 2021, to remain healthy and safe, all those attending the meeting in person are to maintain two metres of physical distancing and must wear a non-medical mask when circulating in the room. It is highly recommended that the mask be worn at all times, including when seated. Proper hand hygiene must be maintained by using the provided hand sanitizer at the room entrance.

As the chair, I will be enforcing these measures for the duration of the meeting. I thank members in advance for their co-operation.

To ensure an orderly meeting, I would like to outline a few rules to follow.

First, for members participating on Zoom, you may speak in the official language of your choice. Interpretation services are available for this meeting. You have a choice, at the bottom of your screen, of floor, English or French. If interpretation is lost, please inform me immediately. We will ensure interpretation is properly restored before resuming the proceedings. The “raise hand” feature at the bottom of the screen can be used at any time if you wish to speak or to alert the chair.

For members participating in person, proceed as you usually would when the whole committee is meeting in person in a committee room.

Before speaking, please wait until I recognize you by name. If you are on the video conference, please click on the microphone icon to unmute yourself. For those in the room, your microphone will be controlled as normal by the proceedings and verification officer. When speaking, please speak slowly and clearly. When you are not speaking, your microphone should be on mute. I will remind you that all comments by members and witnesses should be addressed through the chair.

With regard to a 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 in person.

Now we can go to other business.

I acknowledge Mrs. Romanado.

You have the floor.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I would like to go through the routine motions. I will do them one at a time, if it is the pleasure of the committee.

I will start with “Analyst Services”:

That the Committee retain, as needed and at the discretion of the Chair, the services of one or more analysts from the Library of Parliament to assist it in its work.

Do you want me to continue with each motion?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Let's do them one at a time. We'll finish this one first.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

All right.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Is there agreement or any discussion?

(Motion agreed to)

I would like to welcome the analysts to join us at the table. Thank you.

I just want to make sure that we're all on the same page, because I really do want to do my best at being a committee chair by having us able to function among ourselves in a co-operative way. For the purpose of passing these motions, are we okay with giving a thumbs-up or nodding our heads? Or would you prefer to speak into your microphones and say “yes” or “no”?

Are we okay with thumbs-up? Okay. That's perfect. Thank you.

We'll go to number two.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Madam Chair, congratulations on your selection. I look forward to working with you, at least today, as I am a temporary replacement.

I think there will be some motions where there will be some discussion, so you can judge that accordingly.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

I now present the second routine motion, entitled “Delegation of Authority to Whips (Striking Report)”.

That the four whips be delegated the authority to act as the striking committee pursuant to Standing Orders 104, 113 and 114, and that they be authorized to present to the chair, in a report signed by all four whips, or their representatives, their unanimous recommendations for presentation to the House, on behalf of the committee.

I just want to mention that in the English version, on the fifth line it, says “for” whips, but it should be “four”.

[The Clerk]

We'll get that corrected. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

That is noted.

Go ahead, Mr. Duncan.

[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.