Evidence of meeting #29 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 40th Parliament, 3rd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was questions.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
So again I understand, then, that when he says “reinstate” the national census, he wants to go back to the 2006 census and not have the questions that are added for the 2011 national household survey.
NDP
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
Again, I want to clarify this, because it's not clear--it clearly isn't clear--in your motion here.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
It says, “Therefore, the government should immediately reverse the changes to the long-form census.”
Some of the changes to the long-form census involved questions in it. So....
NDP
Claude Gravelle NDP Nickel Belt, ON
You have control of the questions--not me, and not this committee. What this motion says is to reinstate the mandatory long-form census. It says nothing about the questions. It's to reinstate the mandatory long-form census.
That shouldn't be too hard to understand.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
Actually, that's not what it says, and I'll quote from it. It says, “Therefore, the government should immediately reverse the changes to the long-form census.” That's a quote.
I know you didn't write the motion, but--
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
I think it's clear what the motion says, because everyone has it in front of them on paper.
Is there anybody who wishes to amend this motion to address some of the concerns raised?
Go ahead.
Conservative
Conservative
Conservative
Tom Lukiwski Conservative Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK
Well, to Mr. Gravelle, I'm not trying to be antagonistic here, but I concur with my colleague. The census is the list of questions. The questions are the census.
When Mr. Gravelle says we should immediately reverse the changes, he's talking about reversing the questions. What questions does he want eliminated? Do we go back to the 2006 questionnaire, because that is the census, or does he like the changes we made to the 2011 long form, because there are some added questions there and some deleted questions? Clarification is all we're asking for.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Thank you, Mr. Lukiwski.
Mr. McTeague wants to move an amendment.
Mr. McTeague, you have the floor.
Liberal
Dan McTeague Liberal Pickering—Scarborough East, ON
Could you bear with me for a split second, Mr. Chair, please?
I am thinking that the language here, I agree, is a little off. Perhaps what we could do is suggest the following.... I would ask colleagues to provide a moment of indulgence here.
I would change the wording. After “Therefore, the government should immediately”, remove the words “reverse the changes to the” and replace them with the words “reinstate the mandatory nature of the long-form census”.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Okay, we have an amendment on the floor.
Is there any debate on that amendment?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Go ahead, Mr. McTeague, please clarify that for members of the committee.
Liberal
Dan McTeague Liberal Pickering—Scarborough East, ON
Chair, the words would be removed in the second to last line, the words “reverse the changes to”--
Liberal
Dan McTeague Liberal Pickering—Scarborough East, ON
--and we would replace them with “reinstate the mandatory nature of”. It would read “the mandatory nature of the long-form census”.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Thank you, Mr. McTeague.
The amendment is in front of us.
We'll go to Mr. Bernier.
Conservative
Maxime Bernier Conservative Beauce, QC
I would like to put a question on the amendment. Could the amendment also be translated into French, since you are perfectly bilingual?