Industry Committee on Nov. 9th, 2023

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

I repeat: “and that this information be translated into both official languages and deposited with the Clerk of the Committee“ for the purpose of being…

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

Did you hear all that?

That's the amendment we're debating right now, before we go on to the other aspects of the motion.

Are there any comments on the amendment proposed by Mr. Lemire?

Mr. Généreux.

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

Mr. Chair, we are heading back to our ridings for a week. Given all the staff at the House of Commons, I imagine it will be possible to have the documents translated within a week.

Worst-case scenario, we can agree to Mr. Lemire’s proposal. However, I don’t want to receive these documents in February, after we’ve finished our work. That’s important to mention. We know what happens when you remove a date: it ends up at the bottom of the heap and other documents are dealt with first. That’s the risk. Obviously, we would want the documents to be bilingual.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

Are there any further comments?

Are there any more comments on the amendment proposed by Mr. Lemire?

If there are none, I will put it to a vote.

I'm looking around the table to see if anyone wants to jump in.

Mr. Van Bynen, were you raising your hand?

You're on mute.

[Tony Van Bynen, Liberal, Newmarket—Aurora, ON]

I'm sorry.

I was just concurring. I thought you were calling the vote.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

I'm about to, on the amendment proposed by Mr. Lemire.

Do we need a recorded vote on the amendment by Mr. Lemire, or is there unanimous consent around the table?

(Amendment agreed to)

We're back to the main motion as amended by Mr. Lemire.

Mr. Généreux.

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

In response to Mr. Turnbull, I have no doubt that the Minister has consulted.

So far, we’ve all invited witnesses, and Lord knows the list is still quite long. Personally, I’d like to know who was consulted about all the witnesses appearing later, so that we can prepare for our future meetings.

So far, among all the high-level experts, if I can call them that, who’ve appeared before us, it seems that no one was consulted. I’d like to know if we’ve missed anyone on the list of those who were consulted. If so, perhaps we should have invited them to appear before the Committee.

I understand that it’s getting late to invite new witnesses. That said, the motion would at least allow us to gather references, find out what recommendations these people made that were not taken up, etc. In the set of documents we’re requesting, we may be able to find answers to these questions.

I repeat, I’m not at all questioning the fact that the Minister consulted 300 organizations or individuals.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

Mr. Turnbull, you have our attention.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Thanks for the clarification, Mr. Généreux. I appreciate that.

I guess this is what I'm struggling with here. From my perspective, any of the meetings that were had would already be listed on the lobbying registry—that's any time the ministry meets with a group based on this—so there already is documentation of that. You could look it up yourself, if you want.

We also have, obviously, a process for this committee. Many of the groups have already submitted briefs. They have every right and ability to submit a brief to the committee. When I look at this, we're talking about providing “material submitted”. They already have the option of submitting material.

You've been asking all of the witnesses here as to whether they've been consulted. Some of them may not have been, but we know that there are lots of stakeholders out there, and over 300 have been.

I'm not sure what this achieves when, in essence, committee members already have access to the information that's there. As well, stakeholders already have the ability to submit briefs to the committee.

In essence, the information is largely already available. I'm just not sure why we would need a motion at this particular time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

Mr. Williams, you have the floor.

[Ryan Williams, Conservative, Bay of Quinte, ON]

Thank you.

Just to Mr. Turnbull's point, if the information is there, then we can get it pretty easily. I think this is a pretty simple motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

Are there any more comments, or should we put this motion to a vote?

Go ahead, Mr. Turnbull.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

I'm really not sure; when I look at this, it says, “for the sake of transparency, that the minister's office and department release the details pertaining to”. We've already taken out the date, with Mr. Lemire's amendment. The specific date would not be in there. Really, we're asking for the “names of any and all meeting attendees, including the name of representing organizations”, plus “the title of each meeting and any agendas”—

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

We can read.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Yes, well, I'm processing; I don't see how this is absolutely necessary for—

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

You already said that.

He's repeating himself. Let's just go to a vote. He keeps repeating himself.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

I'm sorry, Mr. Turnbull. Were you done?

Mr. Turnbull has the floor.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Yes, but he's not supposed to repeat himself. I know how to do a filibuster.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

Mr. Perkins—

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

If you want to do a filibuster, you can't repeat yourself.

[The Chair, Liberal, Joël Lightbound]

Mr. Perkins, I am the chair, and I recognize Mr. Turnbull.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Again, I'm not clear on why; I have concerns about what the intention of this is—

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

You already said that.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

—and why we need to submit all this documentation when it's already clearly available.

[Rick Perkins, Conservative, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

[Inaudible—Editor]