Evidence of meeting #52 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 costs.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Thank you, Ms. Harrison. The time is up.
That concludes the round.
The witnesses may leave, but there are a couple of items that I have to deal with.
Do you want the floor, Mr. Genuis?
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Mr. Chair, I have two items.
The first is that I want to briefly discuss the correspondence we received from the Minister of Women and Gender Equality. We had invited her to appear as part of our study on EI parental leave reform. Her office had written back, saying that they see it as an important issue but not part of the minister's mandate.
My understanding of the role of the Minister of Women and Gender Equality is that she's an advocate for women and gender equality issues within cabinet and in a cross-cutting way across policy files. We have invited Minister Hajdu to appear for the study as well, but I would still like us to follow up and say that we're interested in hearing the perspective of the Minister of Women and Gender Equality on this issue, because parental leave has important implications for women and gender equality. Insofar as the minister's role isn't just administrative, but it's also to be a spokesperson and advocate for these issues, I would still like to hear from her.
I wonder whether we can follow up with the minister's office and make that point.
I also want to discuss what we're going to do regarding the study of Bill S-209, but I'll leave that point for a moment if people want to comment on my initial point.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Are there any comments about Mr. Genuis's comments on the communication received from the referenced minister?
Liberal
Annie Koutrakis Liberal Vimy, QC
Mr. Chair, as my colleagues know, ministers appear when they get invited, and their schedule allows for it or for any other reason. I don't think that we can argue against the fact that the minister says it's not part of her mandate. I don't know what further we can say in that regard.
We have invited Minister Hajdu and, at the appropriate time, I'm hoping that she'll be able to appear. I mean, Minister Hajdu is the minister for this committee, and I think that should be sufficient.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Okay. The invitation was extended as per the committee's request, and the minister responded accordingly, which is the minister's prerogative.
I'm not going to entertain much more debate on it, Mr. Genuis.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Yes, Mr. Chair. I won't go on.
I think my colleague is right on the point that the minister can choose to appear or not appear. We can't summon the minister, and I wouldn't propose to try on something like this.
I do wonder whether we can just send a follow-up saying that we understand the administrative division of responsibilities, but the committee would still be interested in hearing her perspective on this issue. It's up to her to come or not, but the committee would indicate that at least we are still interested in hearing the minister's perspective. We understand the administrative division of responsibilities.
If there's an appetite to send that follow-up correspondence, I would like to. If there's not, then we won't, I suppose.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Okay. I'll gauge the appetite. Is there any consensus on sending a second notice?
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
Okay. Thank you. I'm not seeing any consensus on that.
Let's move to the second item, which is that last night in the House, Bill S-209 was carried and it was referred to this committee. Normally, we would go into committee business for this, but I'm prepared to get some guidance now on Bill S-209. It was approved. I want to acknowledge those members who spoke in support of the bill in the House. I was one of them. Let's have a quick decision on how we'll proceed on Bill S-209.
Are there any comments?
Madam Koutrakis, go ahead.
Liberal
Annie Koutrakis Liberal Vimy, QC
Mr. Chair, I'm wondering whether we can deal with this issue at next week's meeting on Tuesday.
Liberal
Annie Koutrakis Liberal Vimy, QC
It'll give us an opportunity to circulate it, in both official languages, and see where we land.
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake, SK
The clerk has it. It hasn't been moved yet. We were waiting for you guys to respond, but we didn't get that, so the clerk can send it out if....
Liberal
Conservative
Rosemarie Falk Conservative Battlefords—Lloydminster—Meadow Lake, SK
We're just waiting to hear from them.
Liberal
Caroline Desrochers Liberal Trois-Rivières, QC
I think we'll be able to reach an agreement. It's just that—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
I take direction based on the majority of the committee.
I'll hear from Mr. Genuis. Then I'll come back to Madam Koutrakis.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Okay. I think that, if the clerk can go ahead and distribute, if it's prepared in both official languages. We had sent a potential motion—I gather we won't move that at the present time—just to facilitate further discussion of it. Can the clerk distribute that?
One part of the motion is that the committee should invite the Senate sponsor of the bill, the House sponsor of the bill and the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to appear. I wonder whether we could agree to that as a first step, which would allow the the clerk to begin the work. Then we can finalize number of meetings, witness list deadline and such things next week. Is that agreeable?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
I have a little bit of time, so I'm going to suspend for a couple of moments to let both sides have a discussion.
We are suspended.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bobby Morrissey
The meeting is back in session.
We'll defer the item that was under discussion until Tuesday to make a decision.
With that, is it the will of the committee to adjourn?
