That the committee retain, as needed and at the discretion of the Chair, the services of one or more analysts from the Library of Parliament to assist it in its work.

1:05 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Sean Casey

Colleagues, you've heard the motion. It appears to be in order.

Is there any debate?

I'm hearing no debate. Are we ready for the question?

Let me ask first if we have consensus or if we wish to proceed to a recorded vote. Can members give some sort of a visual indication if we have consensus? Okay, thanks everyone.

(Motion agreed to)

Go ahead, Mr. Long.

1:10 p.m.

Liberal

Wayne Long Liberal Saint John—Rothesay, NB

The second motion is for the subcommittee on agenda and procedure:

That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be established and be composed of five (5) members; the Chair, one member from each party; and that the subcommittee work in the spirit of collaboration.

1:10 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Sean Casey

The motion appears to be in order.

Is there any debate?

Go ahead, Ms. Gazan.

1:10 p.m.

NDP

Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB

I wish to propose an amendment to this specific motion so that it reads, “That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be established and be composed of five (5) members; the Chair, one member from each recognized party; and that the subcommittee work in the spirit of collaboration.”

1:10 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Sean Casey

The amendment appears to be in order.

Is there any debate on the amendment to add the word “recognized”?

I'm seeing none, so do we have consensus that the motion be amended as suggested?

(Amendment agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

(Motion as amended agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

Go ahead, Mr. Long.

1:10 p.m.

Liberal

Wayne Long Liberal Saint John—Rothesay, NB

The third motion is for meeting without a quorum:

That the Chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive and publish evidence when a quorum is not present, provided that at least four (4) members are present, including two (2) members from the opposition and two (2) members from the government; and that in the case of previously scheduled meetings taking place outside of the Parliamentary precinct, the committee members in attendance be required to wait for 15 minutes following their designated start of the meeting before they may proceed to hear witnesses and receive evidence, regardless of whether opposition or government members are present.

1:10 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Sean Casey

The motion appears to be in order.

Is there any debate?

I'm seeing none, so do we have consensus or do we require a recorded division?

(Motion agreed to)

Go ahead, Mr. Long.

1:10 p.m.

Liberal

Wayne Long Liberal Saint John—Rothesay, NB

Motion number four, “Time for Opening Remarks and Questioning of Witnesses”, reads:

That witnesses be given ten (10) minutes for their opening statement; that, at the discretion of the Chair, during the questioning of witnesses there be allocated six (6) minutes for the first questioner of each party as follows: For the first round: Conservative Party, Liberal Party, Bloc Québécois, New Democratic Party. For the second and subsequent rounds, the order and time for questioning be as follows: Conservative Party, five (5) minutes; Liberal Party, five (5) minutes; Conservative Party, five (5) minutes; Liberal Party, five (5) minutes; Bloc Québécois, two and a half (2.5) minutes; New Democratic Party, two and a half (2.5) minutes.

1:10 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Sean Casey

Thank you. The motion appears to be in order.

Is there any debate?

I see that your hand is up, Ms. Chabot. You have the floor.

1:15 p.m.

Bloc

Louise Chabot Bloc Thérèse-De Blainville, QC

Good afternoon. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

We understand that the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs has proposed something different in terms of the time for opening remarks and questioning witnesses. We recently received a routine motion, on January 30, 2020, to be exact. It basically provides for five minutes for witnesses and sets out a different order for the second round of questions.

I would like to know if someone is proposing that format rather than what has been presented to us.

1:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Sean Casey

Thank you.

Ms. Gazan, please.

1:15 p.m.

NDP

Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I wish to propose a few amendments to the motion, to read as follows, “That witnesses be given five minutes for their opening statement; that, whenever possible, witnesses provide the committee with their opening statements 72 hours in advance; that, at the discretion of the chair, during the questioning of witnesses there be allocated six minutes for the first questioner of each party as follows: For the first round: Conservative Party, Liberal Party, Bloc Québécois, New Democratic Party. For the second and subsequent rounds, the order and time for questioning be as follows: Conservative Party, five minutes; Liberal Party, five minutes; Bloc Québécois, two and a half minutes; New Democratic Party, two and a half minutes; Conservative Party, five minutes; Liberal Party, five minutes.”

1:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Sean Casey

Thank you, Ms. Gazan.

Before we proceed, you've proposed, as I understand it, three amendments to the motion: the first, to reduce the amount of time for witnesses from 10 minutes to five for their remarks; the second, to afford them the opportunity to provide their opening statements 72 hours in advance; and the third, to change the speaking order in the second and subsequent rounds to move the Bloc Québécois and New Democratic Party from fifth and sixth to third and fourth.

1:15 p.m.

NDP

Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB

Yes.

1:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Sean Casey

I understand you want to amend the motion as such. Do you want to proceed with the amendments as one motion, or do you want them dealt with individually?

1:15 p.m.

NDP

Leah Gazan NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB

Maybe we should deal with them individually, just as a precaution.

1:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Sean Casey

Okay.

Amendment number one is that the time for witnesses' opening statements be five minutes instead of 10 minutes. That's the first amendment, and then we'll deal with the next two.

I recognize Mrs. Falk.

1:15 p.m.

Conservative

Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK

Are we first going to be dealing with the motions that I've laid out before us?

1:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Sean Casey

Right now, Mrs. Falk, we are specifically dealing with the motion put forward by Mr. Long with respect to witness statements and speaking order, and more particularly the amendment to that motion proposed by Ms. Gazan to change the length of time for opening addresses by witnesses, from 10 minutes to five minutes. That's what we're dealing with now.

1:15 p.m.

Conservative

Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster, SK

I would like to speak to that.

I know many of us were on this committee before Parliament was prorogued and our study was thrown out the window. Each one of us experienced the technical difficulties that come with a hybrid-fashion committee. We each gave some grace for that. I definitely add my voice to asking witnesses to provide their testimony to each of us in advance so we could each come well prepared to the meeting. Also, I would ask that we reduce the witness testimony to five minutes. We never know what can happen, whether it's with connectivity or, as we're going into winter, with winter storms or power outages. I would appreciate it if this committee could take into account only having five minutes for witness testimony.

Thank you.

1:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Sean Casey

Thank you, Mrs. Falk.

Is there any further discussion on the motion to amend the length of witnesses' opening statements?

Seeing none, is there consensus to amend the motion to shorten witnesses' opening statements or do we require a standing vote? Could we have some indication, please?

I see a consensus.

(Amendment agreed to)

1:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Sean Casey

Now we will move to Ms. Gazan's second motion, which is to afford witnesses the opportunity to provide a written version of their opening statements 72 hours ahead of their appearance at committee.

Is there any discussion?

Mr. Housefather, please.