Evidence of meeting #1 for Medical Assistance in Dying in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was subcommittee.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Senator, Quebec (Rougemont), ISG
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I thought the question was simply whether the co‑chairs were voting. Once we know whether they vote or not, we can decide what we're going to do afterwards and determine, for example, whether we're going to frame them with one more member on each side, that is, a member of the Senate and a member of the House of Commons.
Liberal
The Acting Joint Chair Liberal Marc Garneau
Indeed, the discussion revolves around this issue.
This is just my interpretation, but I get the impression that the suggestion of adding two people is to ensure that the co‑chairs do not vote, so that a certain impartiality is maintained. That is the purpose of the amendment.
Mr. Arseneault, you have the floor.
Liberal
René Arseneault Liberal Madawaska—Restigouche, NB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Earlier I heard the clerk's interpretation that things were going one way in the Senate and another way in the House of Commons.
Could our joint committee of senators and members of the House of Commons agree that, given the purpose of Mr. Maloney's proposal, the two co‑chairs will not vote on the subcommittee? That would conclude the discussion and we could move on to the adoption of the other motions.
Liberal
The Acting Joint Chair Liberal Marc Garneau
Thank you, Mr. Arseneault.
Before we vote on this motion, I'll give the floor back to Senator Martin.
The Joint Chair Hon. Yonah Martin
Thank you, Chair.
Earlier when I added my clarification note, I should have said that I support the amendment moved to add two additional members.
I agree with what Dr. Fry said. The reason we're adding an additional Liberal member to the subcommittee is that the joint chair of the House does not vote. I wanted to explain again that I would vote and Senator Mégie as vice-chair would vote. That is why I would agree to adding another senator to the subcommittee.
My clarification should have ended with saying that I do support the motion moved.
Liberal
The Joint Chair Liberal Marc Garneau
Thank you, Senator.
Given the discussion that we've had here, I am eager to move on if possible. Everybody's heard everything. You've understood the practice with respect to subcommittees and joint chairs from the House versus the Senate.
I would like to know if it's agreed to adopt the motion as amended by Mr. Maloney. Could I see a show of hands with respect to that, please?
(Motion agreed to)
Thank you very much. The amendment is adopted.
I'm assuming, Senator Martin, that we're going to go back and forth on the routine motions, so it's over to you.
The Joint Chair Hon. Yonah Martin
Motion number three is one of our standard routine motions. Do I have a mover for the following? It reads:
That the subcommittee be empowered to make decisions on behalf of the committee with respect to its agenda, to invite witnesses, and to schedule hearings, and that the subcommittee report its decisions to the committee.
Do I have a mover?
The Joint Chair Hon. Yonah Martin
Thank you, Dr. Fry.
Is it agreed to adopt the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
Liberal
The Joint Chair Liberal Marc Garneau
Thank you.
Routine motion number four deals with communications. It reads:
That the joint chairs be empowered to direct communications officer(s) assigned to the committee in the development of communications plans and products where appropriate and to request the services of the Senate Communications Directorate and of the House of Commons Social Media Team for the purposes of the promotion of the committee's work.
Do I have a mover for motion four?
Liberal
The Joint Chair Liberal Marc Garneau
Thank you, Mr. MacGregor.
Is it agreed to adopt the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
The Joint Chair Hon. Yonah Martin
On motion number six, may I have a mover? It reads:
That the joint clerks of the committee be authorized to distribute to the members of the committee only documents that are available in both official languages; and that witnesses be advised accordingly.
Is there a mover?
Conservative
The Joint Chair Hon. Yonah Martin
I have a script that has all of the different motions colour coded, so to speak, between the House and the Senate.
I can do both five and six if that's okay. I'll do number five at this time.
I need a mover for the following motion, number five:
That witnesses appearing before the Committee be given five minutes to make their opening statement and that the order of questions for the first round of questioning shall be as follows: five minutes House of Commons Liberal, five minutes House of Commons Conservative, five minutes House of Commons Bloc Québécois (BQ), five minutes House of Commons New Democratic Party (NDP) and three minutes for each senator. Questioning during the second round shall be divided as follows: three minutes House of Commons Liberal, three minutes House of Commons Conservative, two minutes House of Commons BQ, two minutes House of Commons NDP.
The Acting Joint Chair Hon. Yonah Martin
Thank you, Mr. Arseneault
There is a question before we conclude.
Senator Mégie.
Senator, Quebec (Rougemont), ISG
My question is about the number of minutes allocated to senators. I want to make sure I do the math right. It says that a senator's speaking time is three minutes, but do we multiply that by four or five? To get to 15 minutes, if there are five senators voting—
