Evidence of meeting #19 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was women.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Paulette Senior  President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Women's Foundation
Angela Bonfanti  Senior Vice-President, Foundation Programs, Canadian National Institute for the Blind
Clerk of the Committee  Ms. Marie-France Lafleur
Elizabeth Cahill  Committee Researcher

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Sean Casey

There are, and—

4:15 p.m.

Bloc

Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC

May I make a clarification?

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Sean Casey

Go ahead.

4:15 p.m.

Bloc

Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC

Yes, there are two, Mrs. Kusie.

4:15 p.m.

Conservative

Stephanie Kusie Conservative Calgary Midnapore, AB

Yes.

4:15 p.m.

Bloc

Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC

In my proposal, I am removing the week of July 6.

4:15 p.m.

Conservative

Stephanie Kusie Conservative Calgary Midnapore, AB

Yes.

4:15 p.m.

Bloc

Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC

We cannot work until July 3, for technical reasons.

4:15 p.m.

Conservative

Stephanie Kusie Conservative Calgary Midnapore, AB

Yes.

4:15 p.m.

Bloc

Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC

The House is scheduled to sit during the weeks of July 6, July 20, August 3 and August 24.

I move that, not as of the week of July 6, but as of the week of July 20, we meet one day a week, in the same weeks as the House.

That means three days, actually, not four, as the House will be doing.

4:15 p.m.

Conservative

Stephanie Kusie Conservative Calgary Midnapore, AB

Okay, I get it now.

As I was saying, I think it was our hope that even though we would not sit as often as we are sitting now, we would sit more than this. I think we were looking towards one meeting a week rather than our scheduled two. We are still in the pandemic. We are still coming out of the pandemic and we wanted to continue our work once a week for that reason.

Our position would be to sit more frequently than three meetings over the summer, to hopefully reduce it to four meetings a month, given that there are four weeks in a month, generally.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Sean Casey

Thank you, Ms. Kusie.

Go ahead, Mr. Vaughan, please.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

Adam Vaughan Liberal Spadina—Fort York, ON

I think this sets a reasonable schedule, and I would remind everyone that we can always recall the committee if there's additional work that needs to be done or if the minister's schedule works out in such a way that we can get the estimates done.

We have some flexibility and some ability to be nimble now that we're on Zoom. I think it's a reasonable schedule that reflects the typical summer schedule, with some additional dates that normally wouldn't be covered because of parliamentary process. We usually take the whole summer to be in our constituencies.

I think it's reasonable. Again, l look forward to working with opposition members and colleagues, and if there are issues that require a special meeting, we can always arrange that to respond to the circumstances as they present themselves.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Sean Casey

Thank you, Mr. Vaughan.

Ms. Kwan is next.

4:15 p.m.

NDP

Jenny Kwan NDP Vancouver East, BC

I would agree with Ms. Kusie. I too was hoping that we would have a few more meetings than the three as proposed, simply because we have a lot of things on our agenda. We just finished talking about the Canada summer jobs program. We just finished talking about having ministers and officials come. Of course, we need to get on with the housing study as well. We have a lot of stuff on our plate, I think, so I will support the idea of having one meeting per week, meaning four a month. That is a reduced schedule than what we're doing now, but it's a little more than what was proposed.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Sean Casey

Thank you, Ms. Kwan.

Is there any further discussion on the motion? Yes, I see Madame Chabot. Go ahead, s'il vous plaît.

4:20 p.m.

Bloc

Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC

To keep us on course, let us not forget that we are talking about pandemic-related emergencies. The pandemic is not over yet.

I only want to streamline things. The House will not sit every week or every day. Normally the committee would not meet either.

I am proposing that we do our work at the same pace as the House. We should all remember—and I have no problem saying this—that, while it is important for all parliamentarians to follow House business, it is also important that our own teams, including the analysts' and the clerks' teams, have time off for work-family balance and for vacation.

For these reasons, I propose that, as of July 20, we meet in the same week as the House. Yes, I am removing one day, but I think that strikes a nice balance between House business and committee business.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Sean Casey

Thank you, Ms. Chabot.

Do we have any other debate or interventions on the motion?

Seeing none, Madam Clerk, I would ask you to conduct a recorded vote.

(Motion agreed to: yeas 6; nays 4 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

Thank you to the clerk, the analyst and the rest of the support team for sticking with us. Thanks, everyone. We'll see you on Friday.

The meeting is adjourned.