Human Resources Committee on Feb. 8th, 2024

[The Clerk]

It reads: "That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee express its concern about the progress made towards the goal of a Canada without barriers by 2040 and undertake a study of no less than two meetings to study the progress towards the goal of a barrier-free Canada by 2040; that the committee invite the Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities, the Auditor General of Canada, Canada's chief accessibility officer, Canada's accessibility commissioner, disability advocates, and federally regulated industry representatives; that the committee report its findings and recommendations to the House; and that, pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee request that the government table a comprehensive response to the report."

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you.

Seeing that, Madam Clerk, please call....

Ms. Gray.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I wanted to see if this would come up next. We seem to have lost “and that it report its opinion to the House.”

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

That will be in the motion as amended, when we get to it.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

I just wanted to be clear.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

It will be. That's correct.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Will it be in the next vote? It's in my motion. Okay.

It's “report its findings to the House” or “report its opinions to the House”.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Committee members, I'm going to suspend for a moment while we clarify that.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Great. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

We'll suspend for two minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

We'll resume.

I'm going to ask the clerk to read in its totality the amendment as amended before we go to a vote.

[The Clerk]

The amendment as amended reads, “That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the committee express its concern about the progress made towards the goal of a Canada without barriers by 2040, and undertake a study of no less than two meetings to study the progress towards the goal of a barrier-free Canada by 2040; that the committee invite the Minister of Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities, the Auditor General of Canada, Canada's chief accessibility officer, Canada's accessibility commissioner, disability advocates and federally regulated industry representatives; That the committee report its findings and recommendations to the House; and that, pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee request that the government table a comprehensive response to the report.”

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Mr. Coteau, is this a point of order? We are in the process of voting. I called the vote.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

It's not a point of order, but I'd like to make an amendment.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Committee members, I specifically asked the clerk to read the amendment, and said we were proceeding directly to a vote. Based on that, I'm going to proceed to a vote, because we will then go to the main motion, which can be addressed at that time.

I'm going directly to the vote on the amendment to the amendment, as articulated by the clerk.

(Amendment as amended agreed to: yeas 11; nays 0)

The amendment as amended carries unanimously. Before we go to the main motion, I will go to Mr. Coteau if he has an item to raise on the motion as now amended.

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The motion predetermines the study by saying, “the committee express its concern” with the legislation we're asking to study. I would like to make an amendment.

This is about fairness. If we're doing a study, I think it's only fair that we keep an open mind, to bring in experts, to listen to the Auditor General, the minister and witnesses, and then to make a statement about our concerns or any other items we want to add to that study.

I'd like to make an amendment to remove that section in the first sentence that says, to “express its concern”, and leave it saying something like, “to examine”.

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

What about, “the committee will study”?

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Yes, “the committee will study”. I think that fair and practical.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Thank you, Mr. Coteau.

I do agree. It is prejudging, and committee members have the right to speak their own minds. However, I will leave it to the committee to make a decision.

Did you move that as an amendment, Mr. Coteau?

[Michael Coteau, Liberal, Don Valley East, ON]

Yes, it's just to remove “express its concern” and replace that with “to study”. I think that's what we're trying to do here.

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

Or, you could replace it with “will study”.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

I believe I have Mrs. Gray and then Madame Chabot and Ms. Ferreri.

We're dealing with the amendment to the motion because we adopted the first amendment to the main motion.

We'll go to Mrs. Gray and then Ms. Ferreri, and then I'm going to suspend. Oh, was it Madam Chabot? Whoever had their hand up, please put your hand up again.

Okay, we're speaking to the amendment of Mr. Coteau.

Mrs. Gray.

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I don't see how we could not have that we expressed concern, considering the testimony that we had from Air Canada and considering the horrific situations that persons with disabilities have experienced with transportation and with airlines. I don't see how we could possibly take out that we're concerned about this. That's the whole premise of even doing this study, of even making the comments. I just think that it's unbelievable that he would want to remove that, considering what we know.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bobby Morrissey]

Now we have Mrs. Roberts and then Madame Chabot.

[Anna Roberts, Conservative, King—Vaughan, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I just have a few things that I want to clear up.

I am part of the AODA. I'm also part of the accessibility committee in my community. I'm proud to say that, in King Township, we received 100% on our last inspection by the province.

My point is that, at the federal level, we keep pushing it forward and pushing it forward, and we're doing nothing. This is important because individuals with disabilities deserve the right to live like the rest of us live: barrier-free. If we don't take this seriously, if we don't do the study, if we don't bring motions forward to help people with disabilities, what are we really doing here?