Citizenship and Immigration Committee on April 17th, 2018

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

We have two things. First I would say that once there's a challenge to the chair, I will allow the committee to deal with it. It's a committee decision, whether you uphold my ruling on that.

The second part of that would be just to remind the members that there is a difference between a committee making a motion to request a piece of information, which is voted on by the committee, and a member individually asking a witness for a document. They are different within our parliamentary procedure. We don't have a motion on that. That is why I have ruled that I have heard the concern raised by the member. I think it's a concern that goes directly to the department, as opposed to through the committee, but I am very prepared to accept a challenge on that ruling.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

I have a point of order first. This is just a housekeeping thing. Before we continue, because this could go on a little bit, should we dismiss our witnesses? They've been very patient. I'm sure they have other things to do.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Yes, and I had thought of that before I.... This may be the most interesting thing of your day, but it may not be.

So with thanks, you are very welcome to stay—it's a public meeting—and you're very welcome to leave. That is up to you.

Thanks, Mr. Schmale.

I would need a motion to entertain that my ruling be sustained.

Mr. Anandasangaree.

That's not debatable, so do I have to vacate the chair? I often do. I could.

[A voice]

No.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Okay, I usually do, but I won't today because the vice-chair isn't here, and the second vice-chair is the object of the attention.

All in favour of the motion to sustain the decision made by the chair?

(Ruling of the chair sustained)

Ms. Kwan.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much, and Mr. Chair, I'd like to move a motion, please.

I'd like to move a motion that the department officials be requested to come back to the committee and provide an explanation with respect to my request on the undertaking.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

We have a motion on the floor that may be debated now.

Ms. Alleslev.

[Leona Alleslev, Liberal, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

If I understand correctly, we're looking to understand the consultation process. Perhaps we could make a committee request to outline what the consultation process is, when they plan to have a report, how many people they plan to consult, and what the key areas of consultation are.

Are those some of the things that you were looking for? Rather than having them come back to committee, perhaps we could put a request in for the process.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Mr. Whalen.

[Nick Whalen, Liberal, St. John's East, NL]

The subject of the next meeting is scheduling of business, inviting witnesses, and determining what our order is going to be. Right now, I would like to go in camera.

Ms. Kwan's motion is tabled, but there are dozens of motions on committee business that have been tabled. I don't think hers has the notice or is bilingual or anything, so I don't think we need to debate it now. We can just move it to our next meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

I think the motion is in order. It may be the mover's decision now whether she would like to continue this, but because it followed out of my ruling, I did entertain the motion. That's fine. It is a valid motion, and I think the committee should dispose of it as we are able to.

Mr. Maguire.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Mr. Chair, the only reason I want to have a say here is that even before the vote it would have helped...but I believe my colleague's request comes from the fact that the minister and the deputy minister, in the meeting that she referred to, said they would provide this information and it hasn't come forward. To me, it's pretty simple and straightforward. That's her request, and I put that on the record.

I support her on that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Mr. Anandasangaree.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

I move that the debate be now adjourned.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Okay. We have a motion that the debate be now adjourned, which is not debatable.

(Motion agreed to)

The debate is now adjourned.

Mr. Anandasangaree.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

Chair, I move that we continue our business as per our agenda. I believe we have to finalize some matters with respect to committee business.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

All right.

Is this on the motion to continue the business?

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I would like to speak to it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Okay. You're first.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Thank you very much.

I find this very troubling, for the committee member to try to actually shut down another committee member in engaging in what I think is an important matter for all of us, not just for this committee, frankly, but for all Canadians, and to disallow proper discussion to take place in the public realm.

I would not support this motion. The reason I won't support it is because I would like to move three other motions, and I would like to point out what they are.

One of the motions I want to move and put a notice of motion on the public record is that pursuant to Standing Order—

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

I'm going to call this out of order for two reasons. One, we have a motion on the floor and are not allowed to move another motion that is related.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Sorry—

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

I will not entertain other motions.

Two, we are not in committee business. I would require that any motion being presented would have followed the due process of being sent to the committee with due notice, in two official languages as is important to this committee. I would request that the members follow that procedure to submit their motions in due order.

I would entertain a motion related to a point of parliamentary privilege directly following from it. However, this does not directly follow from that.

We have a motion on the floor and it is the only motion we can deal with at this time.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Mr. Chair, speaking to that issue on the point of order—

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Unless you are raising a new point of order, we are only speaking on the motion at this time.

I am looking at Mr. Sorenson for—