Justice Committee on Oct. 24th, 2018

[Michael Cooper, Conservative, St. Albert—Edmonton, AB]

I would be more amenable to being flexible except for the fact that when it came time for second reading, the government moved time allocation almost immediately. Rob Nicholson and I were the only Conservative members who had a chance to speak on this bill.

We're now faced with a bill that by virtue of all these amendments is nothing short of a disaster. As a result of trying to clean up the mess of this minister, we now have to adjust our schedules to—again—ram this bill through. In the face of so many amendments and so many defects to resolve with this bill, I think we should take our time. Part of taking our time means meeting when we're scheduled to meet and allowing time for further discussion and consideration of the multiple amendments before the committee.

[Iqra Khalid, Liberal, Mississauga—Erin Mills, ON]

I am very amenable to sitting extra times to get this through because I believe there's a lot more that we have to get done. My human trafficking report, I really think that we want to focus on that. It's a priority for me. I'm hoping that it's also a priority for you.

We have a lot of other bills coming forward that I'm very excited to work on. Bill C-78 is another great bill that I'm very excited to work on. I feel that if members are not able to sit the extended hours, perhaps they can find substitutes.

[Tony Clement]

Chair, I appreciate the member's comments. However, the fact of the matter is that the government is in charge of the schedule, and if we're feeling constrained. I don't want to be constrained on the report. I don't want to be constrained on a future bill. Folks who are in government created the schedule. We're abiding by the schedule, and now you want to change the schedule.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

We're a committee. We're not government.

[Tony Clement]

I know, but government members run the committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

We can blame government for many things. This is the committee, and the committee has set a schedule. We ourselves agreed to move to C-78 the week after next. I never block people from speaking. We can discuss clauses ad nauseam, but I would hope that everyone can agree, as we always have in the past, that we sit longer to get through clause-by-clause.

Now, again, it's 7:30, and we're good to stop at 7:30. I would hope that perhaps we could agree that on Monday we go again from 3:30 to 7:30 and do four hours, because we only made it through 85 clauses in the time we had.

No matter how long we keep going, we will eventually have to finish.

[Tony Clement]

We've had some good debate on some sections. I will confess that debate from the other side has changed my mind about a couple of sections, where I voted in favour of the proposers on the other side, so this is meaningful.

It's important. We're dealing with the Criminal Code of Canada here. I don't want us to feel rushed and I don't want us to be tired and I don't want us to be distracted. All of those things increase exponentially when you elongate each individual meeting time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

It's true—

[Tony Clement]

If you're asking for my opinion, I can only give my opinion.

I'm not the Chair. You're the Chair. I'm only the vice-chair, but my opinion is that we stick to the schedule.

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

I appreciate that, but I think Canadians would expect us to work longer than two hours.

[Tony Clement]

We all work. We all have other requirements, parliamentary requirements, sir. Do not play that card.—

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

I will use my prerogative, then. I will ask everybody for 3:30 to 7:30 on Monday. We'll repeat the hours of today and see how far we get. I will not exhaust people, and if people look like they're falling asleep, we'll stop earlier.

I think the debate has been good. The debate will continue to be good, and I would ask people for Monday's meeting to be from 3:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. I hope we'll get through it, and if we don't, we'll have to find another time.

Much appreciated and thank you, everyone, for your excellent contributions today.

[Colin Fraser, Liberal, West Nova, NS]

Can I also thank the staff? They have all been here. They've been helpful. The clerk and the staff have done a great job.

[An hon. member]

Hear, hear!

[The Chair, Liberal, Anthony Housefather]

Absolutely.

We'll thank Ms. May, as well.

It's always good to have you join us, as well as Ms. Ludwig. Thank you, everyone.

The meeting is adjourned.