Evidence of meeting #54 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was benefit.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Barbara Byers  Executive Vice-President, Canadian Labour Congress
Rick Hamilton  Mayor, City of Elliot Lake
Andrew Jackson  Chief Economist, Canadian Labour Congress

4:50 p.m.

NDP

Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB

I was interested in what my colleague Mr. Komarnicki said. Did I say it right?

4:50 p.m.

Conservative

Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK

You were pretty close.

4:50 p.m.

NDP

Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB

That's pretty good for an Acadian.

Maybe he will agree that we could go to another subamendment into which we could put all those numbers of weeks when they have different times they could claim. Maybe he would be interested in working on a subamendment.

4:50 p.m.

Conservative

Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK

I can say this. Mr. Godin doesn't care about the cost part of it, as long as it's bigger and wider.

4:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

We're losing control here--

4:50 p.m.

NDP

Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB

I'm not finished. Maybe you think I don't care about the cost, but I can tell you that it's not the government that is paying into it. It's the workers and the businesses who are paying into it, and the government is taking that money to balance the budget and have the deficit go to zero.

That's where I'm coming from. I'm just trying to add my piece on that.

4:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

All right. Thank you, Mr. Godin.

Go ahead, Mr. Lessard.

4:50 p.m.

Bloc

Yves Lessard Bloc Chambly—Borduas, QC

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Last year, we debated the costs extensively. In terms of amending the regime, we all agreed, Liberals, NDP and the Bloc, on a minimum threshold. This measure was part of that consensus. We have already debated whether or not the fund could afford this measure. For that reason, we are comfortable with putting forward this proposal at this time. I understand that our Liberal colleagues are on board with this. That is consistent with what they told us last year.

4:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

Thank you very much. I will call the question.

(Amendment agreed to)

(Clause 5 as amended agreed to)

(Clauses 6 and 7 agreed to)

We have the last couple of questions.

Shall the title carry?

4:50 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

4:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

Shall the bill as amended carry?

4:50 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

4:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

Shall the chair report the bill as amended to the House?

4:50 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

4:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

Shall the committee order a reprint of the bill as amended for use in the House at report stage?

4:50 p.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

4:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

Thank you very much.

That takes care of Bill C-290.

4:50 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

We have a motion from Mr. Martin, but before I do that, there's been some suggestion from Ms. Davies that one day is not a sufficient amount of time for us to hear her bill. As well, a number of witnesses, including Ms. Davies, have confirmed for Thursday. There are seven.

Quite frankly, given the number of witnesses, I don't know how we will have a chance to go clause by clause on her bill on Thursday. My suggestion is that we break it down into two groups. Ms. Davies and a couple of witnesses can talk in the first hour, and then we would have the other four witnesses. We'd have three witnesses in the first hour and then four in the second. Then we could go to clause-by-clause consideration on the Tuesday after we return from the break.

I'm going to ask the committee what their thoughts are. We can discuss it and then we can go from there.

Go ahead, Mr. Savage.

4:55 p.m.

Liberal

Michael Savage Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS

I don't have a problem with that. Did we have anything scheduled for the Tuesday after the break week?

4:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

We were going to start on poverty again.

4:55 p.m.

Liberal

Michael Savage Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS

Do we have any witnesses planned, or anything like that? If not, that's fine by me.

4:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

All right. We'll go to clause-by-clause study on the Tuesday when we return.

Let's go to Mr. Martin's motion.

Mr. Martin, could you read your motion into the record? The floor is yours.

4:55 p.m.

NDP

Tony Martin NDP Sault Ste. Marie, ON

This is--

4:55 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Dean Allison

Sorry, Mr. Martin. I've just been told by the clerk that you need to withdraw the old one and let us know what the new one is.

4:55 p.m.

NDP

Tony Martin NDP Sault Ste. Marie, ON

I withdraw the old motion and I will read the second motion into the record. It's not that dissimilar from the first one, but there are some changes--