Evidence of meeting #65 for Justice and Human Rights in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was seniors.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:40 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Randeep Sarai
Just to let you know, I made the request. Their reply was that because it's a private member's bill, they didn't feel that they could get really partisan, or whatever. I will make a request again.
I will ask Mr. Anandasangaree.
5:40 p.m.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
Obviously, we have incredible civil servants, and they make decisions for themselves, but I think that if it's the will of the committee, we too would support their appearance here. We would maybe ask for it as a joint request from all parties.
5:40 p.m.
Conservative
Frank Caputo Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC
Thank you, Chair.
I would echo that. This is something that I think we do need some expertise on.
I know my colleague Mr. Zuberi asked about this being a law and that we should be catching owners. We have to remember that this is an amendment to the Criminal Code. All criminal law requires intent, or some sort of substitution for intent. Forgive me; that's not the best word. It's a negligence or a recklessness.
People don't generally come to the committee with an open-book knowledge of this kind of issue. I think we need a fair amount of expertise on it. Essentially, what I'm trying to say is that I think we need justice officials' guidance in this, because this is not an easy issue to navigate.
5:40 p.m.
NDP
Randall Garrison NDP Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC
I would also say that if there was some suggestion that the department never appears on private members' bills, I don't believe that's true, from my experience on this committee and other committees. I don't think it should be true.
Private members' bills are not partisan, even though they may have political issues. They will move through the House like other legislation and become part of legislation. If we're establishing some sort of precedent that we don't get technical advice from the department on private members' bills, I think that's quite dangerous.
5:40 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Randeep Sarai
I'm going to ask them again. Before we summon them or do anything harsher, I will make a strong assertion to have them back. I hope they will be back. If there's a problem, I'll let you all know.
Thank you. We are adjourned.