Evidence of meeting #99 for International Trade in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was documents.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

Mona Fortier Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON

Perfect, I just needed to know that it wasn't an amendment but a motion, just to make sure.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

Okay. All right.

Go ahead, Mr. Miao.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

Wilson Miao Liberal Richmond Centre, BC

Do we vote right now, or...?

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

No, you're not voting. I had you on the speaking list. I thought you had your hand up to speak.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

Wilson Miao Liberal Richmond Centre, BC

Well, I think it is definitely important for us to find a way to move forward, after understanding the concerns we see in the letter and from the witnesses who came for the study.

We should be reviewing the interim report right now. Let's get the actual software tested. Let's run it through to see where the flaw is, and then, eventually, we're going to move forward with this. The planning process has been going on for decades. I understand that we are coming to a very tight timeline right now, and that's why it's important for us to get this going and then have an implementation plan in case something does happen. Let's find a way to resolve it.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

Mr. Sheehan is next.

April 9th, 2024 / 4:15 p.m.

Liberal

Terry Sheehan Liberal Sault Ste. Marie, ON

I'll add to the comments Maninder has made.

I think it's the order of things. We want to address the issues we heard in the testimony, but I think we need to roll up our sleeves and delve back into what we were going to do today as well, because it's kind of hard to do one without the other. I think we really should roll up our sleeves, get into that report and then address this motion after that, because that's what we came here to do, and it's 20 after four. I think we could get a lot of work done if we went after this report and then addressed the resolution.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

Go ahead, Mr. Seeback.

4:15 p.m.

Conservative

Kyle Seeback Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON

I have nothing to say.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

Okay.

4:15 p.m.

Conservative

Kyle Seeback Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON

Call the question.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

Terry Sheehan Liberal Sault Ste. Marie, ON

The speakers list is exhausted.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

Does everybody have the motion in front of them?

There's no further discussion.

We'll have a recorded vote.

4:15 p.m.

Conservative

Kyle Seeback Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON

Is this the motion as amended by a friendly amendment? Is this the motion as amended?

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

It already indicated that it was going to the House anyway, but you did move an amendment earlier that you wanted to stipulate that in there.

4:15 p.m.

Conservative

Kyle Seeback Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON

I want to make sure it's as amended, because it was a friendly amendment that was accepted.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

Yes, it was.

4:15 p.m.

Liberal

Terry Sheehan Liberal Sault Ste. Marie, ON

Can we do it again, then, please, for clarification? Can the clerk read it again?

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

I'm going to read the whole thing:

That the Committee report to the House of Commons:

That it has not yet received the documents requested from the Canada Border Services Agency, which are necessary for this study;

that it considers that the concerns raised by witnesses regarding the CBSA Assessment and Revenue Management (CARM) system, particularly in the brief dated April 8, 2024, signed by 20 concerned organizations, are sufficient to call for caution;

that the effects to be anticipated in the event of a failure in the implementation of the CARM could not be identified with sufficient precision and certainty;

and that, consequently, the Committee recommends that the House of Commons ask the government to suspend the implementation of the CARM system, scheduled for May 13, until the Standing Committee on International Trade can complete its study and table a final report containing its observations and recommendations.

Also, there was an amendment moved by Mr. Seeback that this be reported back to the House.

4:20 p.m.

Bloc

Simon-Pierre Savard-Tremblay Bloc Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot, QC

We already started the vote.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

We're going to do the vote right now.

(Motion as amended agreed to: yeas 10; nays 0 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Mona Fortier Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON

Madam Chair, I have a question.

I didn't ask this earlier, since the vote had already started. I was wondering whether the House could be informed that the documents requested amount to 25,000 pages that require translation.

This information isn't included in the motion. However, I think that people should be informed.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro

If you wanted to stipulate that the committee is waiting for 25,000 pages to be translated and the date that was set down at the previous meeting was not achievable to begin with, you could say that in a motion and put it on the table and we can vote on it, or you can do a dissenting or supplementary opinion.

Do you want to just move that in a motion? I don't think anyone is going to vote against it, because the reality is that there were 25,000 pages.

4:20 p.m.

Liberal

Mona Fortier Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON

I would really like to put it as a motion. I just don't have it written down, but I think it's important to inform Canadians that there were—

4:20 p.m.

Conservative

Kyle Seeback Conservative Dufferin—Caledon, ON

I thought you wanted to get to the report—