Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Dec. 11th, 2023

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Is everyone in agreement?

[Voices]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

That's great. Now we will go to the Liberals.

Mr. Duguid, you have the floor for three minutes.

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Winnipeg South, MB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you to Mr. Janse and his colleagues for all the good work they do for us every day.

Madam Chair, I'd like to go back to a point that my colleague Monsieur Lauzon raised. This is regarding the incident where funds were transferred from Mr. Scheer's riding association to the Guelph candidate. There was some controversy surrounding this. Just to get a bit of clarification, while that transfer happened during a time when Mr. Scheer was not Speaker, the answers coming back regarding that particular transaction came from the long-time director of communications in the Speaker's office.

I'm wondering if you could comment, Mr. Janse. Do you think it was appropriate for the director of communications in the Speaker's office to have responded, or should that have rightly come from somewhere like his constituency office?

[Eric Janse]

Again, thank you for the question.

I'm really not familiar at all with this case, so it's very difficult to comment on it. As we have committed to do, we will search in our files to see what we can dig up in terms of any involvement with the administration.

[Terry Duguid, Liberal, Winnipeg South, MB]

Through the chair, I would like a response to that in due course, after you have had an opportunity to take a look at the record. My understanding is that this issue was raised. I'm wondering if there was a reprimand to the Speaker's office and whether there were any consequences. I think it's relevant to the issue that we have before us.

I think I'm the last questioner. Given some of the context you've given us, that the Speaker, as an MP, has come from a partisan background and is making a transition to a neutral officer of Parliament, do you have one or two crisp recommendations that you would make to this committee?

[Eric Janse]

Again, I think it's up to this committee to decide what it wants to include in its report in terms of recommendations. Certainly, I think a takeaway for us, the administration, is to beef up the section on impartiality in the briefing material that we provide to the Speaker.

Over and above that, again, it's really up to this committee to decide what it wants to contemplate in terms of recommendations. Personally, I would shy away from trying to codify everything a Speaker can or cannot do, because the list would be very long and things are constantly changing. A few years ago there was no social media. Now there is. To the point earlier, it makes things constantly evolving.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Excellent. Thank you.

Regarding the question that Mr. Duguid has asked for a response to, is it the will of the committee to get that response? Excellent.

With that, I would like to thank you, Mr. Janse. While you're here, we're going to give you a little bit of a gift, possibly.

I would like to ask committee members if we recommend to the House to ratify the appointment of Eric Janse to the position of Clerk of the House of Commons. Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

We will be reporting that back on Thursday as well.

With that, thank you for your time and attention. We look forward to receiving documents in both official languages.

Congratulations.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

The meeting is suspended.

We will be back in our seats in two minutes with the Speaker of the House.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

I call the meeting back to order.

In our next panel, we have the Honourable Greg Fergus, Speaker of the House of Commons.

Mr. Speaker, you will have up to 10 minutes for your opening comments. We welcome you to PROC.

The floor is yours.

[Greg Fergus, Liberal, Speaker of the House of Commons]

Madam Chair, thank you for the opportunity to appear before this committee.

First of all, allow me to apologize to all of you here present, to all our colleagues in the House of Commons and, obviously, to all Canadians.

I recorded a video for John Fraser, a friend of long standing. Despite the fact that I had received confirmation to the contrary, that message was broadcasted at a public and partisan meeting. However, regardless of whether the message was broadcasted in private or in public, I should never have recorded it. I know that I made a mistake, I will not make it again, and I apologize unreservedly.

When I assumed the speakership, I said I was taking on the role of a referee. I believe that, if there's one thing Canadians know about, it's that referees are human. They make mistakes, but, unlike a referee after a game, I'm here to tell you I made a bad call.

I am also telling you that I will do better. I am putting in place a more rigorous communication protocol to ensure this will never happen again. I will rely much more on the services of the House Administration, under the direction of the Clerk of the House, to evaluate this type of request. I have also contacted speakers of legislative assemblies and parliamentary experts in Canada and other Westminster-style parliaments. My work will benefit from their opinions and counsel.

I told you that words and symbols count. From the moment I put my name forward for the position of Speaker, I told you that respect would be central to my actions: respect for individuals, respect for decorum, respect for the parliamentary institution. These values are still important to me, although it is fair to say that, like anyone starting a new employment, I will be learning on the job.

Allow me to provide more details on the events that have brought us here. Like many of you, I have formed deep and lasting friendships with people of every political stripe. A member of Mr. Fraser's family phoned my office to ask me to provide a personal video for a surprise private event to mark Mr. Fraser's departure from a management position at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

I agreed to send what I thought was a private congratulatory message, having quickly recorded the video between two meetings. In that video, I talked about the importance of his friendship and his support for my wife and me when we first met, when we were newly married and, later, when we became parents.

That personal message was then broadcasted at a public and partisan meeting. That should never have happened. Even more important, it would never have happened if I hadn't recorded the message in the first place. It was my fault, a hard lesson to learn and a mistake I will not make again.

Before I conclude, allow me to tell you what I felt as a young Black Canadian who loved Parliament and procedure, a child who dreamed of one day becoming a member of Parliament but who didn't know if that was realistic. I hadn't seen any MPs, and even fewer Speakers, who looked like me.

I was recently stopped in Toronto by Lionel, a young Black Canadian father who had recognized me. He told me how important it was for him and his daughter to see me become Speaker. He also said that his daughter now wanted to run for office when she grew up. To Lionel and his daughter, as well as Black and racialized Canadians who are following these debates, I apologize for disappointing you. I promise I will do better.

In closing, I want to make it clear to you that Parliament and its traditions are deeply rooted within me. I have had a strong connection with this place since I was a teenager 35 years ago, when I was a parliamentary page. I remain determined to chair the House of Commons fairly, thoughtfully and in a spirit of collaboration.

My first task every day is to perform my role in an impartial and respectful manner because that's what Canadians of all origins and political convictions are entitled to expect from the Speaker of the House of Commons.

Madam Chair, I thank you and the committee members for the time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bardish Chagger]

Thank you.

We will now start the six-minute rounds, starting with Mr. Scheer.

It will be six minutes, through the chair, honourable members.

Mr. Scheer, the floor is yours.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

Mr. Fergus, everyone comes to the House of Commons having had some involvement in partisan activity. We get elected through party nominations in general elections by running under a party banner. Some of us have a greater degree of partisan activity in our background than others.

I want to quickly go through your background in terms of your partisan involvement.

You held a couple of senior, executive-level types of positions within the Liberal Party. Is that correct?

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

I held a senior position. I was the national director of the Liberal Party of Canada at one point. Yes.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Which years would that be?

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

It was from 2007 to 2010.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

It was until 2010. It was relatively recently.

Before that, you were president of the.... Was it the Liberal youth wing?

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

That is correct.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Before that, were you ever involved at the staff level for members of Parliament or for cabinet ministers?

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

I had worked in opposition for a federal member of Parliament in a constituency office, and I had also worked, from 1996 to 2000—I'm sorry; it might be 2001—for a federal cabinet minister.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Was this a Liberal cabinet minister?

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

Yes.