Justice Committee on Oct. 15th, 2020

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Marc-Olivier Girard]

Honourable members of the committee, I can now see a quorum.

I must inform members that the clerk of the committee can only receive motions for the election of the chair. As you know, the clerk cannot receive any other types of motions, nor can he entertain points of order or participate in debate.

We can now proceed to the election of the chair. As you know, pursuant to the Standing Orders, the chair must be a member of the governing party.

I am now ready to receive motions for the chair position.

[James Maloney, Liberal, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Mr. Clerk, I'm glad to be back and to see everybody here. I'm looking forward to picking up where we left off earlier in the year.

In that spirit, I would like to nominate Iqra Khalid, who can continue leading us as she did previously.

[The Clerk]

Mr. Maloney has nominated Ms. Khalid for chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions?

(Motion agreed to)

[The Clerk]

I declare the motion carried and Ms. Khalid duly elected chair of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

Congratulations, Ms. Khalid.

[Rhéal Fortin, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

I also congratulate you, Madam Chair.

[The Clerk]

Before asking the newly elected chair to take the chair and proceed with her welcoming speech, I would like to ask the permission of the committee to proceed with the election of the first vice-chair and the second vice-chair.

According to the Standing Orders, the first vice-chair must be a member of the official opposition. I am now prepared to receive motions for the first vice-chair.

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

I would like to nominate Rob Moore.

[The Clerk]

Mr. Cooper has nominated Mr. Moore for first vice-chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions?

(Motion agreed to)

[The Clerk]

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Moore duly elected first vice-chair of the committee.

Congratulations, Mr. Moore.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

I would like to move a motion for the election of the second vice-chair.

[The Clerk]

Okay, Mr. Zuberi. Go ahead, please.

[Sameer Zuberi, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

I nominate Rhéal Fortin, of the Bloc Québécois, for second vice-chair of our committee.

[The Clerk]

Mr. Zuberi has nominated Mr. Fortin for second vice-chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions?

I see that Mr. Kelloway has raised his hand. Is it with regard to this?

[Mike Kelloway, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

No, it's not.

[The Clerk]

There are no further motions. Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt this motion to elect Mr. Fortin second vice-chair of the committee?

(Motion agreed to)

[The Clerk]

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Fortin duly elected second vice-chair of the committee.

Congratulations, Mr. Fortin.

I now invite Ms. Khalid to take her virtual chair and continue with this meeting's deliberations.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Thank you, Mr. Clerk.

Thank you for your confidence in me to continue to lead this committee. It's going to be a very heavy agenda for all of us. That means there's going to be a lot of work.

I started this committee in February with the promise that I will do my best to be as transparent, as non-partisan, as neutral and as forthcoming as I can be as a chair. I look forward to continuing my work that way. I'm hoping there are a number of things that we would be able to do in order for us to really be collaborative and to work together in how we put forward important legislation that will impact Canadians on a daily basis.

One thing I do propose, and you can discuss this now or at a later time, is that when we vote, we do it in alphabetical order, regardless of party. It would be a great way for us to set the tone of having a non-partisan discussion and operation in how we conduct ourselves.

I understand that there are routine motion proceedings at this time. Do I have any hands raised to bring forward routine motions?

Go ahead, Mr. Kelloway.

[Mike Kelloway, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and congratulations to you and the vice-chairs. It's nice to meet everybody.

I move to readopt all routine motions from the previous session. If it's the choosing of the chair, I can read those off.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Mr. Kelloway, thank you for that.

Mr. Garrison, I understand that you had sent a notice of motion. I'm not sure if it was in order, because the chair had not been elected. I'm not sure whether the committee was able to receive motions at that time, but I do understand that you would be proposing some amendments to the routine motions that we had adopted in the past.

Mr. Kelloway, if that's okay, how about if we go point by point, if you just want to raise them by point? Then, once we get to Mr. Garrison's proposed amendments, we will have a discussion and then continue forward.

[Mike Kelloway, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Madam Chair, it's good for me.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Thank you, Mr. Kelloway. Go ahead with the first one.

[Mike Kelloway, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Okay.

The motion under “Analyst Services” reads:

That the committee retain, as needed and at the discretion of the Chair, the services of one or more analysts from the Library of Parliament to assist it in its work.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Do I have agreement from everyone on that motion? I see unanimous agreement.

(Motion agreed to)

Continue, Mr. Kelloway.

[Mike Kelloway, Liberal, Cape Breton—Canso, NS]

Under the heading “Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure”, the motion is:

That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be established and be composed of five (5) members, namely the Chair and one member from each recognized party; and that the subcommittee work in a spirit of collaboration.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Do I have agreement from everybody?

(Motion agreed to)

Once we go through the routine motions, I will come back to this and we'll establish the next meeting time for the subcommittee.

Thank you for that, Mr. Kelloway.