Human Resources Committee on Jan. 28th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Long.

Seeing no other discussion, I will call for a vote on the first amendment, Mr. Long's amendment.

Clerk, am I correct on that?

[The Clerk]

Madame Chabot had raised her hand.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

I think the chair called the vote though before the hand went up, if I saw it correctly.

[The Clerk]

The recorded vote is on the amendment by Mr. Long.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Now, unless there is other discussion, we will move to vote on the main motion—

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

I'm sorry, Chair, but can you reread that vote again, the yeas and nays?

[The Clerk]

It is five yeas and six nays.

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

I don't believe so....

So the amendment was voted down?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Now—

[The Clerk]

It was five nays and six yeas.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

It was a recorded vote.

(Amendment agreed to: yeas 6; nays 5 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

[Wayne Long, Liberal, Saint John—Rothesay, NB]

Okay. It was six yeas. There we go. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

I see Mr. Ruff.

[Alex Ruff, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

It's more of a point of order, Chair. I'm a little confused here. Are we going to vote on the subamendment?

There was a subamendment on the floor before the vote was called. I thought we actually had to deal with the subamendment before we deal with the actual amendment. We have to stay within procedure of the House of Commons here. Could I just get some clarity on that, please?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Ruff.

I opened and Madame Chabot did not indicate.... If Madame Chabot wants to return.... I wasn't clear if it was an amendment.

[Louise Chabot, Bloc, Thérèse-De Blainville, QC]

I was going to ask the same thing, Mr. Chair. I formally announced that I was putting forward a subamendment, although I had not written out. It has now been written out.

I was going to ask that Mr. Long's amendment be sent to us in writing, but we made do without it. The amendment ended up going to a vote and, when I raised my hand, you told me that voting was in progress and that we needed to finish it. I should have objected to that.

My question is about procedure. Procedure should be at our service, but sometimes we need help. Perhaps I did not react quickly enough.

By adopting Mr. Long's amendment we have just precluded the ministers' appearance on this urgent issue. I simply cannot believe it.

Now, we are done with voting. I repeat that I'd like to introduce a subamendment so that we can also call Minister Gould, in addition to officials, on January 31. I would like my subamendment to be considered.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Of course, Madame Chabot. It just wasn't clear to me at the time. I was going to go back to you.

Madam Clerk, Madame Chabot had made a subamendment to the amendment. I'm correct...?

[The Clerk]

I actually just received the text two minutes ago—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Okay.

[The Clerk]

—and she did make changes to it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Changes to her subamendment...?

[The Clerk]

From the text I received here, she made changes to the amendment of Mr. Long.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Okay. Can we be clear on the subamendment that Madame Chabot wants the committee to consider?

[The Clerk]

The committee has made a decision on the amendment. It can rescind that decision.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

What's the wish of the committee?