Industry Committee on May 25th, 2021

[The Clerk]

To recap, we had the original motion moved. There was debate. An amendment was moved to replace the wording “without hearing witnesses” with “after three full meetings of witness testimony”. The effect would be that there would be no other committee activities or business in between the three full meetings. The committee would then go immediately to clause-by-clause consideration.

The motion as amended, as it stands right now, would have the impact of pushing back the consideration of draft reports until the committee has completed its three full meetings of witness testimony and clause-by-clause study of Bill C-253.

If this motion were withdrawn, we would revert to the original tentative calendar of pontooning the meetings, having half a meeting to consider a draft report and half a meeting for witness testimony.

It's entirely up to the committee how it wishes to proceed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you very much.

MP Poilievre has his hand up.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Carleton, ON]

If Mr. Lemire wants to withdraw his motion, I would support that withdrawal. The purpose of my intervention is simply to make sure we study the bill before we pass it. That's all.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Thank you very much, MP Poilievre.

I will go to MP Lemire to find out.

Mr. Lemire, would you like to seek unanimous consent to withdraw your motion as amended?

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Madam Chair, this is obviously the recommended procedure. I, for one, would rather maintain the status quo than see the committee vote on this motion as amended. Since the amendment has just been adopted, I would like to seek unanimous consent to withdraw my motion. If I don't get it, I will move another amendment to remove the word “immediately” so that we can keep pretty much the same calendar.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

We have a request for unanimous consent to withdraw the motion, if I understand correctly.

MP Ehsassi has his hand up.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Point of order, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

MP Ehsassi, do you have your headset?

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

I'm sorry, Madam Chair. I thought you wouldn't catch me.

This has been a very confusing meeting. It's important to highlight one reality. When we voted on the amendment, Mr. Lemire suggested to us—and this was part of the premise of the manner in which we voted—that if we voted in favour of the amendment, he would withdraw his motion. Then, subsequent to that, after Mr. Poilievre's amendment, he changed his decision.

Mr. Lemire, you've really managed to confuse every single one of us, because you've changed your position on several occasions.

Could you, one more time, tell us whether or not you are willing to withdraw the motion? You have to accept the representation you made before we voted on Mr. Poilievre's amendment.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Madam Chair, let me point out that the comment Mr. Ehsassi just made was in bad faith. I believe he understands very well that the motion was made in an emergency. If the urgency is the central element and the meaning of my motion is distorted, obviously I am going to oppose it. That is what happened.

You are the all-around winner as far as your goal to buy time is concerned, Mr. Ehsassi. I find it petty that you are blaming me by raising a procedural issue. Honestly, I find this attitude unacceptable, but that's your prerogative.

For now, my motion is clear. Let's go to a vote to withdraw the motion. If I don't get unanimous consent, I will ask that the word “immediately” be removed from the motion so as to preserve the essence of the committee's work. That is all I am arguing for right now. If we can't fast-track, for God's sake, can we at least maintain the integrity of what we're doing?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

MP Lemire, I'm going to ask you...the language, please. That is very unparliamentary. We have questions before the—

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Madam Chair, which of the words I used were not appropriate in the parliamentary context?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Mr. Lemire, our goal right now is to discuss your motion. There's no bad faith here at all. We just want to clarify what you want. You want unanimous consent to withdraw your motion. So if there are no further comments, we can ask the committee if there is unanimous consent to withdraw your motion.

Are there any questions or comments?

Mr. Ehsassi, your hand is up. I can't tell if you want to make another intervention.

[Ali Ehsassi, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

Yes.

First of all, I would like to emphasize that I never used anything to say that Mr. Lemire actually meant to mislead us. That is not what I stated. I really don't appreciate Mr. Lemire's now turning it around and suggesting that I am acting in bad faith.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Okay.

Folks, I think we have had a great opportunity to work together in collaboration for the last year and a half, so I'm going to lower the temperature a little bit. I'm going to ask for unanimous consent to withdraw the motion as amended.

Do we have unanimous consent?

I don't believe this requires a recorded division, but I will ask the clerk.

Does this require a recorded division?

[The Clerk]

No. A request for unanimous consent is just a regular request. As long as there is no dissenting voice, then you have unanimous consent.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Do I have unanimous consent to withdraw the motion as amended?

(Motion as amended withdrawn [See Minutes of Proceedings])

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Madam Chair, is it my turn again now? If so, how much time do I have left?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Right now we have....

You have six minutes for discussion with Mrs. Gill.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Madam Chair, are we still on schedule? The first part of the meeting was supposed to end at noon. It being already 12:09 p.m., do we have to start the second part?

Can you clarify what we have to do?

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

If it is the will of the members of the committee to continue with Mrs. Gill's testimony, we will do that.

If it is the will of the committee to go to [technical difficulties].

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

I think we have lost communication with the chair. Am I the only one with the problem?

[Marilène Gill, Bloc, Manicouagan, QC]

No, there are several of us. I was afraid I was the only one.

[Sébastien Lemire, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

Madam Chair, since the Internet connection stopped working, I could not hear the last 20 seconds of your comment.

[The Chair, Liberal, Sherry Romanado]

Yes, we also have a draft report to consider, but we didn't have a chance to finish the first round of questions. So here's my suggestion. If we obtain the consent of the members of the committee, we'll finish the first round of questions, so that all parties can at least have a chance to talk to Mrs. Gill.

Mr. Lemire, you have the floor for six minutes.