Justice Committee on April 1st, 2022

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'm very supportive of your plan for next week. I am very concerned about getting started on the drafting work so the drafters can work away while we're starting on the hearings on Bill C‑5.

I don't believe we can settle the question of the number of meetings today in the time we have available to us, but I think you presented a good plan for next week. I'm presuming that we will have what you said, with the minister and officials for the full two hours on the Friday, and then we'll split the time on the Tuesday, so I am supportive of those suggestions. Maybe we can leave the total number of meetings to be discussed at another meeting.

Thanks.

[The Chair, Liberal, Randeep Sarai]

Just to be clear, I think the Friday meeting will have the first hour for the minister and the next hour for the departmental officials, but it will be two hours.

Mr. Moore.

[Rob Moore, Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

As usual, Mr. Garrison took the words right out of my mouth. We're so often on the same page.

I am inclined to agree with Mr. Garrison and what's been said about the number of meetings. I think five is going to be a little low when we're dealing with something involving very sweeping changes, but I think generally what you've outlined is sound for our work on Tuesday, and then with the minister appearing on Friday. I think we should defer on the total number of meetings until a future meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Randeep Sarai]

Gary.

[Gary Anandasangaree, Liberal, Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON]

Mr. Chair, my only concern is that as we embark on the study of Bill C‑5, it would be good to have a sense at the outset of how many witnesses we're talking about. While I agree that we may not be able to resolve it today, I wonder if there is time to do a subcommittee meeting early next week so that we can actually hammer this out.

[The Chair, Liberal, Randeep Sarai]

I think that would be a fair thing. We'll start with five. Instead of a subcommittee, perhaps we'll have an informal chat around each party's representatives and we'll try to figure out a number. At least we have next week's schedule taken care of. We'll tentatively start at five because we at least have a minimum agreement on that.

Then, Mr. Moore, we can chat next week and figure out the course of it going forward.

Is that okay with everyone? Do I see nods? Yes. That's perfect.

Okay, I think we have the agenda.

I'll call this meeting to an end. We'll see you all on Tuesday.

Thank you.