International Trade Committee on March 8th, 2021

[Tracy Gray, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Yes, Madam Chair. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Okay.

(Motion negatived: nays 6; yeas 5)

Thank you very much, Madam Clerk.

Mr. Sheehan is first, and then Mr. MacGregor.

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Thank you very much.

You had mentioned entertaining the various notices of motions that have been placed on the table. I think, with only three minutes left, I would probably look to move my motion on Friday, just to have the opportunity for people to discuss said motion, if warranted. Obviously, if people wanted to support it right now, I would entertain that, but I just was prepared for a notice of motion.

Chair, you did mention something about entertaining voting on it now, but again, from way back in my city council days, I always like to do a notice of motion just to give people the time to read it. It's been circulated in both official languages, too. Again, it's an important motion around green tech. It's coast to coast. Every province has green tech opportunities for scale-up. That's why I introduced it.

I will leave that with the committee, but I just wanted to note that it's such an important discussion I wanted to make sure we had the appropriate time set aside to answer questions. I would not want it to be defeated simply because it was rushed. That's all.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

No. We fully support it, Terry.

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Is the committee of the desire to vote on Mr. Sheehan's motion today or to hold it off for another day? I have two yeses. Are there any objections to Mr. Sheehan's motion?

We have Mr. MacGregor and then Mr. Lobb.

Mr. MacGregor.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

I'm sorry. Where are we at, Madam Chair? Are we still on Mr. Sheehan's motion?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Yes.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Okay. I will defer until after this business is concluded.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Mr. Lobb, are you speaking to Mr. Sheehan's motion?

[Ben Lobb, Conservative, Huron—Bruce, ON]

Yes.

On Mr. Sheehan's motion, I look at it and I understand where Mr. Sheehan is coming from, but I do know that it's specific in some ways around talking about wind, solar and other things like that. Take, for example, nuclear, which I would consider green. It's not listed there. Some of the stuff in and around the oil and gas sector that would be considered green technology is not listed there.

If we look at this at another meeting in terms of business, is this something that we can make more general instead of making it more specific? For my own two cents, I would want to throw in a friendly amendment in and around nuclear CANDU technology and all the other supporting services that go along with it.

I don't want to ruin Mr. Sheehan's motion if he wanted to keep it that way, but it's just something to have him think about, maybe, over the next couple of days.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Mr. Sheehan, are you all right with holding your motion down?

[Terry Sheehan, Liberal, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Yes, I would be, because Mr. Lobb brought up very salient points. Those two other industries unto themselves are extremely important, important to me and important to Canadians.

In just the spirit of this motion, I would think that those two industries almost unto themselves warrant their own particular studies. I mean, we have Tenaris Tubes here in the Soo. I'm not going to go down the proverbial rabbit hole, but yes, those are industries that definitely are important to Canadians. I would think they almost deserve a study unto themselves.

I take that under advisement. I think we probably should come back to my resolution with these thoughts in our heads.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Okay. I'm just keeping my eye on the clock here. At the moment, we have WTO and ISDS. That's what's ahead of us in the immediate future.

I have Mr. MacGregor and then Mr. Hoback.

Mr. MacGregor, the floor is yours.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Has Mr. Sheehan ceded the floor on his motion?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Yes. We will not be voting on that today.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

I wanted to know, Madam Chair, from the clerk.... If I wanted to have a vote on the motion I talked about earlier, could I push for that right now if I so wished? There have been talks with the Bloc and with the Conservatives. The motion has been circulated. I could read it into the record one more time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

It would have to be the original motion. I believe it has to be the original motion that Mr. Blaikie moved in the fall, without—

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Yes, but if I wanted to push for the motion as amended for a vote right now, could I do so?

[Rachel Bendayan, Liberal, Outremont, QC]

Madam Chair, just in case this assists your reflections, I do have another engagement at one o'clock. This is the end of our committee time. Of course, if you decide to go on without me, I will find a substitute.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Well, it is one o'clock, and I don't believe there's an urgency. When things get changed, Mr. MacGregor, for the timelines to continue on.... Certainly, Mr. Blaikie can speak to this on Friday, since the meeting time has run out at this particular point.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

All right. Recognizing the time, I'll respect everyone's commitments and ask Mr. Blaikie to move it next time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Thank you very much, Mr. MacGregor.

Thank you very much to the committee for your continued dedication and help. It was great seeing you. We will see you later on in the week.

The meeting is adjourned.