Industry Committee on March 9th, 2017

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Yes, and the—

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

That's what we need to focus on. It's going to take however long it takes.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

No, not—

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

We cannot answer that question right now.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

No, but I can talk about the reasons why I support this motion, and I do, because in there it has this, “Within three years after the day on which” this section comes into force. I am entitled to my right to explain what that potentially means in terms of it coming into force. That is very relevant and germane to this discussion—

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

Nobody is taking that right away from you—

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

I'm trying to work with that now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

We're dealing with the motion right now.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

I am dealing with the motion, and I quote:

Within three years after the day on which section 172.1 comes into force, and every five years after that, a committee of the Senate and...the House of Commons as may be designated or established by the Senate and the House of Commons for that purpose shall undertake a comprehensive review of that section.

What this is talking about is when that happens, so I'm working through the problems and why I believe we need a quicker review, because that process that we talk about in new proposed section 172.2 is germane to when it comes up. That's why the compressed—

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

The question was asked to the parliamentary secretary.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Right, and then so that's—

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

He stated that as soon as this is passed it will go to the House—

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Right, and then—

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

—so I'm not quite sure where you're—

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

It was because—

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

What more information are you looking for?

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

No, it isn't information.

This is my commentary on that, my explanation. I asked that for clarification. That's why I wanted to go to another meeting, to try to get clarification as I go through the potentials of how long this is going to take. This is very germane to this bill because it is quite indicative of when we can review it. We are legislating the time frames here. We are legislating when we can actually review this bill. That's important to me, because there's a big difference between two years, three years, and five years. We need to go through the numbers here. It's 2017, and that's why I was focusing on.... I can see the time going into the summer here, because they can put closure on it. After that, it still has to go to the Senate. We're not dealing with this bill.

This bill will not take effect until September of 2017. That is when it's in the Senate, okay? It goes into the Senate. We don't know how long it will take in the Senate, but we can do a general estimate. The Senate could take a half a year on the bill. It could take whatever, but we're likely not to see.... On average, Senate bills take more than a month or two. You're going to see that probably not take effect until 2018.

I do have a question to Mr. Schaan about that because I want to find out how long the regulation process takes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

He'll be right back.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

We'll just wait, then, because I want to know how long the regulation process is going to take for that. I think it's important. It's very important.

[The Chair, Liberal, Dan Ruimy]

It's quite clear that we're not going to finish this today.

We'll wait for Mr. Schaan to come back to answer your question, but I guess we're going to have to continue on at our next meeting, which is Tuesday, March 21. Whatever we have scheduled for that day, we will have to push that. We will continue with Bill C-25 on March 21.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Mr. Schaan, I'm sorry.... To be fair, I didn't even know you were gone. You're very polite.

What I am looking for is how long a regulatory review process takes. You may not be able to determine this one exactly, but can you ballpark it for us in terms of what takes place from it being gazetted? Say the legislation passes the Senate, gets royal assent—it has to go through royal assent—am I correct that the regulatory review process then takes place? How long would it approximately take?

[Mark Schaan]

The Treasury Board guideline for the regulation-making process is between 12 and 18 months, depending. There's a normal comment period for CG part I, and then a normal comment period for CG part II.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

We're now into 2018, if it clears the Senate and gets royal assent. We're looking at a year to a year and a half before we get the regulatory review coming back. That makes it 2019. We'll give them half a year, if that's.... We don't know how long it's going to take.

To Mr. Schaan, again.... I'm sorry. Listen, I'm the lone seat here, so I know how it is when you leave the seat. I have to look strategically to find and get coffee.

Is that like reporting back and then it's enacted as law?

[Mark Schaan]

Yes, all the way through.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

It doesn't include anything Parliament has to do. It's just done.