Industry Committee on Feb. 25th, 2020

[Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

When is that going to go out? Will you send a notice to the committee?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

This will be sent out in the next few days, and the notice will be sent out, so that way members can share this among their networks to make sure it gets as much coverage as possible, especially with respect to witnesses, lining them up and so on.

You also have in front of you another press release with respect to the study we will be conducting on March 10 and 12, so we're a little bit backwards here.

[Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, Liberal, Beaches—East York, ON]

I don't think we have that one.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

You don't have that one? We will circulate that.

While that is being circulated, I want to verify with the committee if a briefing from the analysts in advance of our next study would be appropriate. Obviously, a written brief can be prepared, and I believe we were looking at that.

[Francis Lord]

We'll have time to prepare a background paper on the telecom study and not so much time for the fraud calls, but we'll be providing briefing notes before both meetings, and you're going to have some background information on that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

There are some members of the committee who are much more versed on the dossier than others, so we want to make sure everyone has an opportunity to be briefed prior to the commencement of witnesses.

My apologies, they are going to be circulating copies momentarily. What I can do in the interim is read it. It's very short. In English:

The Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology (the Committee) adopted a motion to study the influx of fraud calls in Canada, including robocalls, ghost calls, and spam calls. The Committee will also examine the successes and failures of the National Do-Not-Call List, and outline the STIR/SHAKEN measures that will be implemented on in September 2020. You can also support the work of the Committee by submitting a brief. Briefs must not exceed 1,000 words and must be sent not later than 13 March 2020 to: [email protected]. For more information about this study, please consult INDU's website.

That essentially invites folks.

Mr. Masse, I'm going to ask for your thoughts regarding March 13. Given that we're going to have March 10 and 12, would March 13 be adequate so that we can make sure all submissions are in?

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

It sounds fine to me. I would defer to the analysts. They are the ones who get the bulk of the action here that needs to be—

[Francis Lord]

Thank you, Mr. Masse.

In this case we will have plenty of time, so receiving briefs for March 13 is perfectly doable.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

That sounds good.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Perfect.

Are we in agreement, or would you like to wait to receive the copy? It's going to be circulated momentarily. I will wait until you have a copy in front of you and then I will ask for a motion to approve the press release.

There is a little grammar and editing that needs to be done on them, but if I could have someone move—

Mr. Masse.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

I'll move it, with authorization to fix grammar and typos.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Dreeshen.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

I'm curious about the wording. The two different versions we have sound a lot different. It says, “You can also support the work of the Committee by submitting a brief” and it explains that. In the other one we just did, the wording is different.

Are we going to be consistent? It's not a big deal, but one is a little more folksy than the other one. One says that you can also support this work by submitting a brief, and the other one says, “To support this work, the Committee asks Canadians to submit a brief.”

I don't care. On the next one, we might have a different story about how it is. Are we going to be—

[Francis Lord]

Do you prefer the folksy version or the more formal one?

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

I don't care. I just note that they are different.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

The first one seemed logical. We were talking to having Canadians submit a brief. The other is a little less so.

[Francis Lord]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

In terms of professionalism, perhaps the first one....

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

I think the wording on the first one is a bit more professional than the other.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Ms. Lambropoulos.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Let's finish with this one first, and then I will say what I have to say after.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Do I have a motion to approve the press release, with the amendment, using the same language as the previous press release?

(Motion agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

Madam Lambropoulos.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

I know we already approved this one, but for the short version of the previous press release, would we be able to include that the committee “launches as a new study on telecommunications accessibility and affordability” in the short version, just so people know that's what we're focusing on in the study?

I think Nathaniel switched the wording in the long version. Would we be able to make it reflect that in the short version as well?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Because we have already voted on this, it would require unanimous consent to go back.

Do we have approval of the committee to go back to the first press release we just approved to add “accessibility and affordability”?

Is that correct in the short version?

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

Yes.