Evidence of meeting #17 for Justice and Human Rights in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was c-14.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal James Maloney
Let's be crystal clear here.
Ms. Lattanzio introduced an amendment to Mr. Brock's motion. Mr. Brock then introduced a subamendment to her amendment. We just voted on the subamendment. Now we're going to vote on the amendment as amended by Mr. Brock's subamendment.
Mr. Lawton, go ahead.
Conservative
Liberal
Patricia Lattanzio Liberal Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC
What amendment? We've moved on to the subamendment.
Conservative
Andrew Lawton Conservative Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON
No, we dispensed with the subamendment and now we are on the amendment.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal James Maloney
We're back on the amendment as amended.
Mr. Lawton, you have the floor.
Conservative
Andrew Lawton Conservative Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON
I want to make something clear, which is that this whole exercise that the Liberals have subjected this committee to has been entirely unnecessary.
They can laugh about it. Just as they—
Liberal
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
I have a point of order.
This was a motion by Mr. Brock that interrupted witness testimony. The Liberals haven't subjected us to anything.
Conservative
Conservative
Liberal
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
We just agreed on something. You could stop and we could vote and go ahead, but now you have to again—
February 4th, 2026 / 7:35 p.m.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal James Maloney
Okay, both sides, we're not having debate across the table. Anybody who wants to make submissions will do it through me, please.
Thank you, Mr. Housefather.
Mr. Lawton, you have the floor.
Conservative
Andrew Lawton Conservative Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON
Again, there are further Liberal interruptions in what we're trying to do here.
The exercise is unnecessary because we have been trying to, this whole night....
I remain an optimist. I haven't been in Ottawa long enough to have that stripped from me, apparently. I remain optimistic that we can deal with Bill C-14 in its entirety tonight.
The issue at hand, and this is where we're quite frustrated with our Liberal colleagues, is they have not been taking a very easy opportunity, which we have offered now more times than I can count, to prioritize a bill for which there is a lot more consensus among Canadians and some of the witnesses we've heard from today and to deal with Bill C-16 as soon as Monday.
That still remains the preference not just of Conservative members of this committee but of Canadians who have been asking for the Liberal government to finally respond to some of these calls. You know what's—
Liberal
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
Mr. Chair, I have a point of order on relevance.
We just adopted, based on a subamendment by a Conservative member, a motion that says what sequence we're going in. There's no debate related to the clause anymore about the order. It was just adopted. The relevance of this is not there.
We've had two and a half hours where they've made this point. They've just accepted a subamendment that puts Bill C-9 back on Monday, and this is not in there.
What Mr. Lawton is saying is not relevant anymore. He's just further filibustering and delaying the meeting based on a motion his own party put forward.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal James Maloney
Thank you.
Mr. Lawton, Mr. Housefather has a point, so try to keep it within the context of the discussion.
Conservative
Andrew Lawton Conservative Elgin—St. Thomas—London South, ON
The point of the motion as amended is about the priorities of this committee and the priorities of legislation, so my comments are entirely in keeping with that.
I don't know if there's anyone behind me on the speaking list. I'm fully prepared to go to a vote in a matter of moments here. I'm just stating for the record here, because I think it is important, that we have been trying to ensure that bail and sentencing reform are this committee's priorities. That has certainly been the olive branch we've been extending to the Liberals for many months, and it has been swatted away by the Liberals at every stage in this particular meeting.
The most egregious part of the subamendment—I'm glad we dispensed with that—was limiting the time that we could debate Bill C-9. But I still think it is incredibly concerning that the Liberals are prioritizing this bill without the minister having informed Canadians as to any of the consultations he's purportedly taken; that this bill is still, in their mind, more pressing than a bill that deals with mandatory minimum penalties, a bill that deals with intimate partner violence, a bill that deals with protecting women and children, which should be a priority that all of us do share. It should be a higher priority than a bill that takes aim at religious freedom.
With that being said, I appreciate the Liberal willingness to remove the limitation on debate, but I still have to question why they are so hell-bent on moving forward a bill that has provisions they found so objectionable.
The priority for us is and always will remain fixing the broken Liberal bail system. I'm glad we can finally get back to Bill C-14, so I thank the Liberals for that.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal James Maloney
Thank you.
I'm calling the vote on the amendment as amended.
(Amendment as amended agreed to: yeas 5; nays 4 [See Minutes of Proceedings])
Liberal
Conservative
Larry Brock Conservative Brantford—Brant South—Six Nations, ON
What are we voting for? Can I get that clarified, please?
The Clerk
I will read the motion as amended. Please bear with me, there are some changes.
I will read it in English to begin with and in French after.
Bloc
