Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Oct. 14th, 2020

[Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Liberal, Hochelaga, QC]

Point of order, Mr. Clerk.

[The Clerk]

Thank you, Ms. Dancho.

Madame Martinez Ferrada, I'm not able to hear points of order, but you have the floor.

[Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Liberal, Hochelaga, QC]

Thank you.

As I understand, the first vice-chair of the committee must be a member of the official opposition. So I will withdraw my nomination and save it for the election of second vice-chair.

[The Clerk]

We are currently discussing the motion to elect the first vice-chair, who must indeed be a member of the official opposition. We have a motion. I think that Mr. Soraya also had something to say.

Mr. Soraya, go ahead.

[Bob Saroya, Conservative, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Good morning. I propose that Raquel Dancho be the first vice-chair of the committee, please.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Mr. Saroya that Raquel Dancho be elected the first vice-chair.

Are there any other nominations?

Hearing none, as more than one candidate has been nominated, pursuant to the order adopted by the House on Wednesday, September 23, any motion received after the initial—

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

I'm sorry, but only one candidate was validly nominated, because it has to be someone from the Conservative Party. Only one Conservative was nominated and that is is Ms. Dancho.

[The Clerk]

Of course, I beg your pardon.

Members of the committee, I must apologize. I've never before received a nomination for someone who was not a member of the required party and I took it for granted.... I apologize to all members.

For the first motion, Madame Normandin regrettably is not eligible to be nominated as the first vice-chair.

Thank you all for your patience.

Mr. Regan, I owe you a nice bottle of wine.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Mr. Saroya that Ms. Dancho be elected as the first vice-chair of the committee.

Thank you for your patience. That was very kind of all of you.

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

I see unanimity.

(Motion agreed to)

I declare Ms. Dancho the duly elected vice-chair.

I guess that was my one mistake for the session.

We'll now proceed to the election of second vice-chair. The second vice-chair must be a member of an opposition party other than that of the official opposition.

I'm prepared to receive motions for the election of the second vice-chair.

Madame Martinez Ferrada.

[Soraya Martinez Ferrada, Liberal, Hochelaga, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Clerk.

I made a mistake earlier. So I am happy to correct myself and move a motion to nominate Ms. Normandin for second vice-chair of the committee.

[The Clerk]

Okay, noted. Ms. Martinez Ferrada is nominating Christine Normandin for second vice-chair.

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion? We have unanimous consent.

(Motion agreed to)

I declare Madame Normandin the duly elected second vice-chair.

(Motion agreed to)

The vice-chairs have been elected.

Madam Zahid, you have the floor.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, clerk, and congratulations to both the vice-chairs. I look forward to working with you all in our committee. We have some important work to do.

Now I would like to ask the committee members if we are okay to now adopt the routine motions?

Yes, Mr. Dhaliwal.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Madam Chair, I would like to bring in the routine motions. The motions are basically the same ones as were adopted on February 18.

First, would you like me to read them one by one?

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Yes, you can read them one by one, and then we will vote on them.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Sure. The first is on analyst services:

That the committee retain, as needed and at the discretion of the Chair, the services of one or more analysts from the Library of Parliament to assist it in its work.

(Motion agreed to)

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

The next is on the subcommittee on agenda and procedure:

That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be established and be composed of five members; the Chair, one member from each party, and that the committee work in a spirit of collaboration.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Is everyone in favour of this motion?

[Jenny Kwan, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

Madam Chair, I'm just wondering. With this motion, I think committee members would have also received from their own party whip the latest round of motions from PROC that have been proposed for all committees. I just wonder if I can get a comment from the clerk or from Mr. Dhaliwal regarding all of the motions that we are proceeding with, and whether they are aligned with what was proposed by PROC in the latest round.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Yes, they are.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Thank you, Ms. Kwan.

Mr. Dhaliwal will read them one by one, and if anything comes up, then we can debate it. So I think he can continue.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Okay, I'll continue with the next one, on meeting without a quorum:

That the Chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive and publish evidence when a quorum is not present, provided that at least four members are present, including two members of the opposition and two members of the government but, when travelling outside the parliamentary precinct, that the meeting begin after 15 minutes, regardless of members present.

(Motion agreed to)

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

The next is on time for opening remarks and questioning of witnesses:

That witnesses be given 10 minutes for their opening statement; that, at the discretion of the chair during the questioning of the witnesses, there be allocated six minutes for the first questioner of each party as follows:

First round: Conservative Party; Liberal Party, Bloc Québécois, New Democratic Party.

For the second and subsequent rounds, the order and time for questioning be as follows: Conservative Party, five minutes, Liberal Party, five minutes, Conservative Party, five minutes, Liberal five minutes, Bloc Québécois, two and a half minutes and New Democratic Party, two and a half minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Salma Zahid]

Ms. Normandin.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you very much.

Unless I am mistaken, I have before me routine motions from the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. The first difference I see is that opening remarks last five minutes and, in the second round of questions, the Conservative Party has five minutes, the Liberal Party has five minutes, and the Bloc Québécois is given two and a half minutes, as is the New Democratic Party. Then, the Conservative Party again has five minutes and the Liberal Party has five minutes. My understanding is that this is what the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs has discussed.