Evidence of meeting #68 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 amendment.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:40 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Lessard Bloc Chambly—Borduas, QC
Ah, you rejected it. I had not understood. I apologize. Forget what I said.
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
Okay.
If there are no other comments, then I'm going to call the question on amendment BQ-2.
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
All right.
(Amendment agreed to: yeas 6; nays 4) [See Minutes of Proceedings]
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
I would ask you to turn to amendment NDP-3. It's on page 3.
I just want to indicate what NDP-3 will do. Then I'll have Ms. Leslie read the amendment and speak to it.
Just to let everyone know, if NDP-3 is carried, it will apply to further amendments NDP-7, NDP-8, NDP-9, and NDP-10.
If NDP-3 is adopted, then Bloc amendment 1, which applies to Bloc amendments 3, 4, 5, and 6, cannot be moved.
I'm going to repeat that again....
Go ahead.
4:40 p.m.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
Perhaps I can make a correction. I don't believe it's NDP-10. I believe it's NDP-11.
That would make it NDP amendments 7, 8, 9, and 11.
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
Again, we're dealing with page 3, NDP amendment 3, which I'll have Ms. Leslie speak to shortly.
If it is agreed upon, the vote will apply to NDP amendments 7, 8, and 9; we're just confirming whether it applies to 10 or 11.
If NDP-3 amendment is adopted, then Bloc amendment 1, which applies to Bloc amendments 3, 4, 5, and 6, cannot be moved.
Ms. Leslie, I'll ask you to read and talk about NDP-3 for us.
4:45 p.m.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Currently each provision we're looking at reads along these lines: “the Minister shall, in consultation with the provincial ministers of the Crown”. Our amendment would change it to “provincial and territorial ministers of the Crown”.
We were actually alerted to this issue through Mr. Komarnicki's speech to the House, when he noted that “territorial” was excluded.
According to the Interpretation Act, “territorial” would be read in; it's deemed to cover territories. However, in consideration of and with respect to our territorial friends, we certainly want to make sure that they are expressly included.
There are several places within the bill where it simply says “provincial”, and we would want to insert “and territorial” at each of those places.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
Ms. Leslie, can you confirm for us the reference number? We want to make sure that we're using the right one.
We're suggesting that what we have down here is NDP-10; that could be “NDP-11”, the way it's written. The reference number is 4201694.
When you have a second, just look at the reference and let us know what it is. We want to make sure that we're talking about the same thing.
4:45 p.m.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
Yes.
I'm just looking up why I thought it was amendment NDP-11. My apologies, Mr. Chair, my records for amendments NDP-10 and NDP-11 were mixed up.
Thank you.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
Thanks.
Have you finished discussing amendment NDP-3, then, Ms. Leslie?
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
Okay, then I'll just open it up to any kind of conversation or debate.
If there's no debate on that, I'll call the question on amendment NDP-3.
(Amendment agreed to) [See Minutes of Proceedings]
Amendment NDP-3 will carry, then; therefore, amendments NDP-7, NDP-8, NDP-9, and NDP-10 will also carry.
That means that amendment BQ-1 cannot be moved.
We will now move to amendment LIB-1.1, which is on page 4.01. I will give you a second to move to that page, and I am going to ask someone from the Liberals to speak to that amendment.
Go ahead, Mr. Kennedy, anytime you want, as people are turning to that page. Thank you.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Gerard Kennedy Liberal Parkdale—High Park, ON
Essentially this is just to make it more complete and ensure that the right people are seated at the table. It's really a friendly amendment to the amendment that follows from the NDP. It just makes it more express that it's not-for-profit and private sector housing providers, to make sure that those are people we've seated at the table, as well as the more encompassing term of “civil society organizations”. It's meant to ensure that the people who provide housing are part of the conversation and that it happen expressly in order to strengthen that outcome.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
All right. I just also want to make sure people understand that if amendment LIB-1.1 is adopted, amendment NDP-4.1 cannot be brought forward. Once again, I want to make sure everyone gets clarification on that.
Are there any questions, comments, or discussion on Mr. Kennedy's movement of amendment LIB-1.1?
Then I'll call the question.
(Amendment agreed to) [See Minutes of Proceedings]
That then means that amendment NDP-4.1 will not be moved.
We're now going to move to amendment LIB-2. Once again I'll ask Mr. Kennedy to read that and let us know what the intent of that is.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Gerard Kennedy Liberal Parkdale—High Park, ON
Mr. Chair, this is basically making explicit what is implicit in the bill, that we are trying to fulfill our obligations as undertaken by governments of all different political parties internationally, and this gives us a linkage to some of those aspirations that we've already passed and debated, and so on, in past generations of parliamentarians. It is creating a firm link between a national housing strategy and our already existing international obligations.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
Is there any discussion on amendment LIB-2?
Then I'll call the question.
(Amendment agreed to) [See Minutes of Proceedings]
We'll now move to amendment LIB-3.1, found on page 5.2.
Once again, I'll turn it over to you, Mr. Kennedy, to discuss it.
4:50 p.m.
Liberal
Gerard Kennedy Liberal Parkdale—High Park, ON
Again, this is really the form of a friendly amendment in the sense that it broadens what we would consider to be minimal basic needs, so it's not just food and clothing but also access to health care services, education, and recreational activities. It's basically just understanding that people can't exist in a room. I'm leaning here on the years I had running food banks in Edmonton and Toronto and saying you don't want to have too artificial a definition of “basic needs”, because it is those other things beyond food that are part of people's existence. So while the word “including” is there, this is ensuring that we don't inadvertently--because I think it would be inadvertent--put people in a more narrow strait or circumstance than we wanted to in the first place.
4:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dean Allison
Are there any comments or discussion on Liberal 3.1? All right, then I'll call the question.
(Amendment agreed to) [See Minutes of Proceedings]
We're now going to move to NDP 5. That is on page 6.
Ms. Leslie, would you like to take the floor and tell us a bit about this and the reason behind it?
4:50 p.m.
NDP
Megan Leslie NDP Halifax, NS
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
What NDP amendment 5 would do is replace line 15 with the following: “The national housing strategy shall include incentives for affordable rental housing and shall”, etc. It's including incentives for affordable rental housing. We heard from witnesses from the apartment associations about the role of the private sector in ending the housing crisis in Canada, and this is acknowledgement that most low-income households live in private rental housing and the private sector does have a stake in affordable housing. This is in recognition of what we actually heard from witnesses at committee.
