Evidence of meeting #26 for Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was study.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
On a point of order, Mr. Chair, can you read out the list you have for the amendment right now?
Conservative
Liberal
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Okay.
I wanted to respond to a couple of points with respect to the agenda. This amendment deals with how the committee prioritizes its business and the number of meetings it allocates to different items. I was trying to rough this out. By my count, we have eight studies currently active in some form right now. We have between six and eight, depending on how you count them.
We have the study on Bill C-222, the legislation from Mr. Beech, which is a Liberal private member's bill, though it's certainly one that we support. We have the study on housing. We have the study on youth unemployment. We have the study on section 107 of the Labour Code. We have the study on temporary foreign workers. We have the study put forward by Ms. Larouche on issues with seniors' benefits. Those are six studies, at a minimum, that are currently active before the committee.
We have not yet received Bill C-20, the government's legislation on Build Canada Homes. That's a seventh study. It's not for me to know the government's legislative prioritization, and that can change from time to time, but I expect, based on how they're scheduling it, that it's a legislative priority for them and is therefore one we're going to be seeing here at committee soon.
We then have the study on Bill C-15, which in many respects is incomplete. Ms. Koutrakis pointed out quite correctly that part of our study on Bill C-15 dealt with the school food program, which is very true in a way. However, that underlines how odd it is that in the middle of a study on the BIA, which included the national school food program and the provisions therein, the government moved a motion to study the national food program, which was already at that very moment under discussion as part of the budget implementation act.
Because our study on Bill C-15, in certain respects, was cut off, we might be able to agree to do a further study of the subject matter of Bill C-15, because I think there is more work required with respect to the training sections, as well as with respect to the sections dealing with food prices and food inflation—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
The amendment currently before the floor is moving from eight meetings to four meetings in that motion—
Conservative
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Respectfully, as we consider the overall scope of what's before this committee, I think that needs, to some extent, to inform the decisions we make about which studies are undertaken.
On the face of it, this committee could keep piling on studies and we could commit to members of the public, potential witnesses and ourselves that we are going to undertake a limitless number of studies, but that would not reflect the reality of the constraints we have. If we were to work through just the studies we presently have before us, I don't think we would be able to complete our business, frankly, by the end of the calendar year, and certainly not by the summer, if we work through the existing studies we have already approved.
If nothing else, there certainly isn't any urgency in the government trying to force this issue at a time when we have eight other studies already on the table, depending on how you count them, and already approved.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Mr. Genuis, stick to the amendment. It's to go from eight meetings to four.
February 23rd, 2026 / 5:45 p.m.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
The government having put forward a study with eight or even four potential meetings still doesn't seem at all, from our perspective, to take into consideration the breadth and extent of the work that is already before the committee. As we consider the number of meetings, we have to consider these other items we have.
We could proceed with looking further at the issues with Bill C-15. We have to deal with legislation. Our view is that whether it's private members' bills or government legislation, we should prioritize that.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Mr. Genuis, the amendment simply references changing the number of meetings allocated in the motion put forward by Madame Koutrakis from eight to four.
Conservative
Liberal
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Chair, the committee's decisions about the number of meetings it spends on any given item have to take into consideration the other ways the committee could possibly spend those meetings. That necessarily follows.
The decision to have a meeting on one subject is a decision not to have a meeting on another subject. The way in which motions have been moved sometimes seems to ignore that scarcity principle. Whether we decide to have four, eight, 40 or no meetings on a given subject, that inevitably crowds out discussion of other items.
Our view is that the primary responsibility of committees is to deal with legislation, and that really is regardless of the subject matter. There may be a study that is, on the face of it, on a subject that is more important than the subject of a particular piece of legislation. Nonetheless, my view would be that a committee should still prioritize, in that case, the legislation, because the legislation is the application of the hard power of the committee, whereas the act of a study does not involve the legislative power of the committee.
When determining how many meetings to have on any potential study and how to allocate the scarce amount of time we have before us for meetings, I think our priority will have to be on legislation. Coincidentally, all of the legislative items before this committee, or prospectively before this committee, come from the government or Liberal private members. We have Bill C-15, which we could continue looking at, even though it is now in clause-by-clause consideration at the finance committee. We have Bill C-222, and we likely have Bill C-20 coming.
Liberal
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
No, you're speaking to legislation and things that may come before the committee.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
No, I'm speaking to the choice of the committee with respect to how many meetings to allocate to which item. If you'll—
Liberal
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Outside of legislation, we have already allocated a few dozen other meetings to other items. Actually, I should have added a ninth, because that is the discussion of estimates.
I hope there can be some room for establishing a calendar that takes into consideration the nine studies we're already working with. I suspect that if members were to take that calendar seriously, that would inevitably inform the decisions they're going to make with respect to the number of meetings they're working on in this meeting.
Chair, I want to give verbal notice of a different motion. I'll do that very quickly. The motion reads:
That the committee report to the House that it opposes discrimination against students in the distribution of student grants based on the type of regulated institution where students are studying. The federal government should align with decisions about eligible institutions made by the provinces and territories.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
I'm just providing a verbal notice of that motion. I'm not moving it, of course, but for now it's there.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Thank you.
I will move to the next speaker on the list.
Members, please do not stray from the amendment of Madame Larouche, which is simply focused on the study motion of Madame Koutrakis and having eight meetings or four. That is the amendment. We're going to stick tightly to it.
The floor is open to anybody who wants to—
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Chair, that's what I was doing, but I'll cede the floor now.
