Justice Committee on Oct. 15th, 2020

[Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

Okay, thank you.

I heard the motion when you presented it, so I would vote yes, in favour.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Thank you very much for that, Ms. Findlay.

(Amendment agreed to)

(Motion as amended agreed to: yeas 11; nays 0 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

Thank you, everybody.

We have now gone through the routine motions.

Mr. Garrison, thank you for helping us amend it so that it is more inclusive, more fair, and more transparent. We really appreciate that.

I just want to talk a little bit before we go into committee business for what will be the rest of the meeting. I would like each party to identify who is going to be their representative on the subcommittee for agenda so that we can start scheduling a meeting at the earliest, as we continue with what will obviously be a very heavy legislative agenda.

I'll go to Monsieur Fortin—sorry, to Mr. Moore first—to identify who's going to be their representative on the subcommittee.

[Rob Moore, Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

For now, I'll be the representative, thanks.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Thank you very much.

Monsieur Fortin, I understand that you will be the representative.

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

I will consult the other members of my caucus who are members of this committee, and I think we will come to a unanimous decision, based on which I will speak for the Bloc Québécois.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Thank you very much for that, Monsieur Fortin.

Mr. Garrison, you're good?

[Randall Garrison, NDP, Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Thank you.

Who will it be from the Liberal side?

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I really like the words and comments of Mr. Fortin regarding his unanimous nomination. I will be representing the Liberal Party in this subcommittee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Thank you very much for that, Mr. Virani.

With that, Mr. Clerk, could we schedule at the earliest opportunity a meeting with the subcommittee to go over agenda and scheduling for the remainder of the year and how, logistically, we're going to conduct ourselves for the remainder? If you could please do this at your earliest convenience, it would be really wonderful, perhaps by either the end of this week or very early next week so we can get the ball rolling.

I'm excited. I'm sure you guys are, too. Thank you.

Just on that note, I know that Bill C-3 will be coming to our committee very soon and I know that we had done a lot of work on it in the past number of months before prorogation. I want to make sure that all of that work has not gone to waste.

In the subcommittee that we will have, we'll discuss the timing of amendments to that bill to be proposed and whether, at the next meeting, we want to adopt the evidence that we've heard, as well as other logistical challenges that we may or may not have with Bill C-3. Obviously I want to give everybody enough time to put forward any amendments. I know that prior to the pandemic and our having to go home, we had established deadlines for proposing amendments to Bill C-3. The bill in and of itself has not really changed in language at all, so I anticipate that we will have already done that work in terms of what amendments we want to put forward.

We will have that discussion in more detail during the subcommittee, but I wanted to flag for you that that is the direction we're moving in.

Now, Mr. Moore, I saw a notice of motion by you with respect to the main estimates and inviting the Minister of Justice, Attorney General and department officials to appear on the main estimates for two hours and for that meeting be televised.

In terms of how we're conducting ourselves and really how I'm hoping to be able to keep our committee very open and transparent, I was also hoping to invite the minister for the main estimates regardless, in the next little while, before the deadline obviously, at his earliest convenience given his schedule.

However, I'm happy to open this motion for debate if any of you wants to speak to it. It may just be prudent given the timing, etc., that we're able to get this through and invite the minister at his earliest convenience.

I will give you the floor, Mr. Moore, if you'd like to speak to that.

[Rob Moore, Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and you summed it up quite nicely. That was my motion, that the minister be invited to appear on the estimates.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Thanks very much, Mr. Moore.

I understand that the deadline is November 27.

Mr. Virani, I see your hand raised. Is that to speak on this?

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Yes, apropos to the point you just made, you pre-empted Mr. Moore and you're pre-empting me, Madam Chair. Perhaps for the purposes of accuracy, if we all understand that the deadline is November 27, perhaps the motion should indicate that it be not later than November 27, which is a date that's prescribed in any event by the Standing Orders if not by the statute.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Thanks very much for that clarity, Mr. Virani.

Mr. Moore, considering that we're going to be proactively inviting the minister based on this deadline anyway, would you still like to go ahead and move this motion or is it okay for us to have the clerk send out that invitation right away?

[Rob Moore, Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

I think I will move the motion. As of right now, we're coming together for the first time today, but we don't have any committee business at the moment, so I'd like to move the motion. Thank you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Wonderful. Thank you very much.

Mr. Virani, is that your hand raised again, or did you forget to...?

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

I forgot to lower it, but it's good that I forgot.

What I'm asking, Madam Chair, is whether it would be prudent to insert “department officials to appear on the main estimates no later than November 27 for two hours” etc.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Mr. Moore, do you accept that friendly amendment?

[Rob Moore, Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

Well, I think I'm hoping that this would be done sooner rather than later, because currently we do not have any bills before our committee. No, I'd just like to say that we do this as soon as possible.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

That's fair.

Mr. Virani, do you want to put forward a subamendment or are we going to let this pass so we can just invite the minister as soon as possible?

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Madam Chair, I'm just cognizant of the fact that we have a bill that's about to come to us when it gets voted on, which is Bill C-3, the judges training act. We have the medically assisted dying bill, which is being debated for two more days in the House this coming week, which will then be coming to this committee. We have a conversion therapy bill that would be coming to this committee.

The medical assistance in dying bill is subject to a court-imposed deadline of December 18. It will be my position and my party's strong position that we need to move forward with that expeditiously and I don't want that court-imposed deadline to be jeopardized, so I think stipulating no later than November 27 is important in the context of this motion.

I'm not trying to be obstructionist. I'm just trying to make it crystal clear as to the timing for when the minister must come by. That's all.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Thanks very much for that, Mr. Virani.

Mr. Maloney, I see your hand raised. Would you like to speak to this?

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

I think we've agreed to invite the minister. The minister is going to come and departmental officials are going to come on the earliest date available when his schedule permits. Do we need any more clarity than that? I don't think so. We have other things going on, but we're going to accommodate the minister and he is going to accommodate us as soon as he can.

[The Chair, Liberal, Iqra Khalid]

Okay, so at this time then, Mr. Virani, are you submitting an amendment to Mr. Moore's motion with respect to timing or not?

[Arif Virani, Liberal, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Madam Chair, I would ask if we could suspend for two minutes so I could speak with some of the relevant individuals.