Evidence of meeting #3 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 ministers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
February 27th, 2020 / 4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Liberal
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I appreciate what Mr. Albas just said. I agree that one of the priorities for ministers should be to attend committee when committees want the ministers, and I believe that our ministers are committed to doing that.
I was going to make a suggestion. Again, I bow to the will of the committee, and I know our ministers are going to make themselves as available as they can. I think it's reasonable to talk about the mains and supplementaries and the mandate letter. In terms of what you said about expanding Ms. Gazan's motion, remember that in her motion we talked about each minister being there for an hour, and now we're talking about them being there for two hours. As committee members who are more experienced on committees know, you can ask questions of whomever you want, and over two hours you can get an awful lot of questions in.
What I would perhaps suggest, just in terms of not worrying about anything else, is this. What if the motion were to be amended to add the words “and supplementaries” where it says that they would come in to discuss the mandate letter and the mains, and then it would say, “for a period of no less than two hours”. Then it's up to the chair and the committee to decide how many rounds of questions they want to go for. Perhaps you can cover it all in one session instead of trying to bring the minister back multiple times, which I think is much more inconvenient than the minister staying for one additional round of questions if the committee has another round of questions at the end of the meeting. That's just my thought.
Liberal
Kate Young Liberal London West, ON
Well, that brings up another thought, but I wanted to say that I think it's important, as MP Albas mentioned, that we hear from the ministers. There's no question that we have a lot to ask. There are many things to go over. I just wanted to put forward that I was ready to vote on the motion, and I think we should just go ahead.
Liberal
Adam Vaughan Liberal Spadina—Fort York, ON
I just want to be clear, because I respect the principle that was spoken to. Having been a member of the opposition, I am worried that getting a minister in here is not the easiest thing in the world to do. If we have only one shot at the minister, we should have all of the issues available to ask about, and that's what I was trying to do. I'm trying to find a way to be efficient, given the fact that if we got one visit between now and summer, that would probably be pretty good. I don't want to cut out the main estimates or the supplementaries or the mandate letter. I want to find a way to include all of them together so we can ask the full range of questions.
I'm not going to stand in the way of the principle, which I think you've spoken to so eloquently. I think we can find a way to do it with the two hours. We should let the second motion we passed stand and hope we can get the ministers in here twice, but my guess is that we'll get them in here only once.
Conservative
Dan Albas Conservative Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC
I sincerely appreciate that obviously the other side understands where we're coming from on this, so I say thank you for listening. That's a really great sign today.
I would just be mindful, though, that through our humble servant the chair we can summon a minister, and when we make an ask, we are asking for them to book it with the chair at the earliest convenience, with the understanding that they do have important roles.
If any of the ministers believes that they can evade some of the questions that Mr. Vis has, and the opposition parties are convinced that it's in the public interest—
Conservative
Conservative
Dan Albas Conservative Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC
Well, I'm just saying that I can count on you rallying at least this side, Brad.
Conservative
Dan Albas Conservative Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC
We could summon them, if necessary. I think it's out of respect for their work that right now it's just a request.
Liberal
Adam Vaughan Liberal Spadina—Fort York, ON
That's why we want to have the full range of questions available. That's what we're trying to do here.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sean Casey
With the greatest respect, Mr. Housefather has put forward a very constructive solution, but Mr. Housefather is not a member of the committee and can't move motions, so if somebody wants to adopt his words, perhaps to withdraw the first amendment or to make a subamendment, that's up to them.
Sorry, Mr. Housefather.
Liberal
Kate Young Liberal London West, ON
I just want to move the amended version of the motion.
I want to make sure we're all aware of what we're voting on. I hate to ask you to repeat it, but could we...? It was just the preamble. I think it was to take the first sentence off, so you're talking about the different ministers and their titles only once.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Sean Casey
Okay. Here's where we are.
The original motion moved by Ms. Gazan was that we ask the four ministers to testify before the committee for one hour per minister to explain their mandate letters. That was the original motion.
Mr. Vaughan proposed an amendment that said that two of the ministers would come in for one meeting, and the other two would come in for another meeting, to speak to main estimates and their mandate letters for two hours. That's a summary of the amendment.
Mr. Housefather indicated that the amended motion is now a bit redundant, because in the first half of the original motion we talk about inviting ministers, and in the second half we say it again.
I guess what we're going to do now is to adopt a subamendment. It's really a second amendment.
Liberal
Adam Vaughan Liberal Spadina—Fort York, ON
Why don't I just withdraw mine and we can go with Anthony's? That would accomplish what we want.
