Evidence of meeting #55 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Marc Toupin  Procedural Clerk

4:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

It will stand.

4:25 p.m.

Conservative

Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC

As being overturned. It will remain as it is on this document right here.

4:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

Right.

4:25 p.m.

Conservative

Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC

And then we proceed.

4:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

We would proceed to the next clause or the next amendment.

4:25 p.m.

Conservative

Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC

That's despite the fact that there's already agreement that this motion, as it's currently drafted before us, was not the one presented by Mr. Silva. Is that—

4:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

That's correct.

4:25 p.m.

NDP

Libby Davies NDP Vancouver East, BC

The amendment is correct; it has just been applied to the wrong clause in the bill. That presents a problem. If we move over clause 1 and let it stand as it is in the bill, then when we move to clause 2, the next clause in the bill, there is exactly the same amendment from Mr. Silva but it will apply to clause 2, not to clause 1.

4:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

I want you to know that even though it is reintroduced under paragraph (h), there's no guarantee that it wouldn't be ruled out. We would certainly consider it and put it to the law clerk again.

4:25 p.m.

NDP

Libby Davies NDP Vancouver East, BC

You would do that right here and now?

4:25 p.m.

Liberal

Mario Silva Liberal Davenport, ON

If you make a ruling and you're challenged, if it is the will of the committee to proceed, then you can still proceed. Right?

4:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

That is correct, yes.

February 14th, 2007 / 4:25 p.m.

Conservative

Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC

I want to be sure I understand what's going on here.

If I understand the comments made by Mr. Silva and Ms. Davies, the motion presented to the committee, the first amendment to clause 1, which is, “Subsection 87.4(1) of the Canada Labour Code is replaced by the following:”, including this text, is not what they intended.

But you're saying that this particular clause is out of order because it's amending a section that Mr. Nadeau's bill, Bill C-257, does not reference. So it cannot amend this particular section.

Originally they were trying to overturn your decision that this was not amendable, and now they're saying, oh sorry, there's a mistake, this is not what was intended. So we're waiting to see whether they will in fact uphold their challenge of your decision.

And then you want to revisit this topic immediately after—

4:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

No. It would have to come up in the context of the order we go through. The new clause, L-2, would be the next one we deal with. It would have to come in its order.

4:30 p.m.

Conservative

Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC

So it's off the table.

4:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

That particular clause would be off the table. Then they would reintroduce it to (h), or wherever, and we would deal with it at that point in time.

I'll ask to suspend for five minutes, so we can have a ruling on Mr. Silva's motion.

We will suspend for five minutes, please.

4:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

Let's get back to the orders of the day.

We left off with a Liberal motion before us that the legislative clerk had ruled inadmissible and that I had also ruled inadmissible. I was challenged on that fact. There was some discussion going around. We could put it to the vote now.

Mr. Hiebert.

4:55 p.m.

Conservative

Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC

We're still waiting for a copy of the motion so we can review it before we vote on it.

4:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

I don't believe there's any copy of the motion at this point in time.

4:55 p.m.

Conservative

Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB

We still haven't seen a copy of the amendments.

4:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

I believe when that point comes, we'll give you a chance to look at that amendment. We're not at that point in the process right now.

4:55 p.m.

Conservative

Russ Hiebert Conservative South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC

How are we expected to vote on this motion without seeing the substance of the motion?

4:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

We're voting on clause 1, which I've ruled inadmissible. All we're voting on is whether you agree with the legislative clerk and the chair that clause 1 should be inadmissible.

4:55 p.m.

Conservative

Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB

Do you mean amendment 1?

4:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

Sorry, I meant amendment 1, yes.

Mr. Hiebert, what was being challenged was that the decision of the chair be sustained, and that's what the vote is on.