Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Jan. 30th, 2019

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

First thing?

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

We have scheduled witnesses, whom I want to respect as well. However, we will present a proposal.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

That's my point, Mr. Chairman. You won't allow enough time to discuss this issue.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

As you know, meetings have no scheduled adjournment time. We could go forever on a point, if you wanted.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

No, we can't. You know that. That's silly.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

We can.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

That's a silly statement for you to make.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

We can technically go. The meeting is adjourned when the meeting is adjourned.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

No, we can't. The meeting is scheduled and in the minutes it's supposed to go from 3:30 to 5:30. You know that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

It's actually not true.

We can always book extra time in a meeting. The start time is actually official. The ending time—for instance, we had a meeting this week that was scheduled from 3:30 to 5:30 and ended at 4:15 or something. That happens.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

That's in camera, Mr. Chairman. We should be careful.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

The times are public information.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

No, they're not.

With the in camera meeting, you're not supposed to reveal what was said in camera.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

I have the minutes before me. The meeting was adjourned at 3:57.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

Well Mr. Chairman, I hope you do allow some time on Monday to discuss this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

Thank you.

[David Tilson, Conservative, Dufferin—Caledon, ON]

It would not be fair for all members of the committee to have only one hour for both ministers. You know it didn't work before. We've tried it here and it doesn't work.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

I will be at the service of the committee. The committee will make that decision, which is absolutely fair.

I have Ms. Kwan next on the list.

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

I wonder if we could find a collegial way to move forward on this, in the interests of time and the witnesses and so on, and also in anticipation of the witnesses on Monday. Could we have a quick head nod of whether there is a sentiment in favour of splitting those meetings?

I think it's a fair request to split those meetings, to have the ministers and officials come in two separate hours, to accommodate questions. I think it's a fairly okay thing to ask. Instead of having it drawn into a major situation, as sometimes happens, perhaps we could just have a head nod around the table. That would give you some indication of the sentiment, Mr. Chair, to proceed. We could then maybe avert a scenario that I think we all hope to avert on Monday.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

As I have said to the committee, we'll be having a meeting to go over the schedule.

The schedule isn't just about supplementary estimates (B). It's also about two studies you have requested agenda time for. One is on migration in the 21st century and the other on settlement services. We have witnesses who have been booked.

What I tried to do with the clerk is to schedule all of those things and balance the needs of the committee to get all of our work done.

I have heard the point of order by Mr. Tilson regarding his concern. We'll take that into our meeting and I will report back, if it's your will, on Monday with respect to scheduling for the next several weeks. Then you're very welcome to change that scheduling, because that's your right.

I have Mr. Maguire.

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

Mr. Chair, in your initial comments you indicated that you had provided three dates for those meetings. I agree with my colleague and Ms. Kwan that it should be split and that we have separate times for each minister. You indicated three dates that you had there. Were they March 18, 20, and sometime in February?

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

No, they're February 20, 25 and 27. There are three dates where we have some flexibility in the committee schedule. We're just trying to understand. It's two ministers with their travel schedules and their other meetings, so we're just—

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

I don't know if you could work the two of them into those dates, but I think that would be agreeable. I leave it to you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Rob Oliphant]

There's always the possibility that both ministers will not be available on the same day, so we would have to have two meetings. That's the kind of flexibility that I think the committee normally gives. We just don't know yet when the ministers will be available.

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

As long as we don't run them both in the same day, it doesn't matter to me on which days they come.