National Defence Committee on Feb. 8th, 2018

[Leona Alleslev, Liberal, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

Could I make a point of order for a second?

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

Go ahead.

[Leona Alleslev, Liberal, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

It's probably not a point of order.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Leona Alleslev, Liberal, Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON]

I have a request. I'm wondering if all of the parliamentarians in the room, after the meeting breaks up, might consider having a picture with the Secretary General of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, so that we could have that on the record.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

Okay.

That said, if you gentlemen could just bear with us for a second, we have some housekeeping things that we need to do.

I'll turn the floor over to Mr. Garrison.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I believe on Friday members of the committee received a notice of motion from me. That motion reads as follows:

That the Standing Committee on National Defence invite the Minister of National Defence, the Deputy Minister, and other relevant Department personnel to appear before the Committee at the earliest opportunity for a one day study to discuss the steps taken at the Department of National Defence on addressing Phoenix payroll issues experienced by its civilian employees and the impact these issues have had on employees’ morale and operational effectiveness; that a meeting to this effect take place within 30 days from adoption of this motion; that this meeting be televised; and that the Committee to report its findings to the House.

I know that people were present when I asked the minister about this in November. I asked again in the House two weeks ago. These problems are still not being addressed. That's my reason for moving this motion.

What I'd like to do today is move to refer this to the steering committee meeting on Monday.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

Are there discussions on that?

Mr. Gerretsen.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

By moving to refer it to the steering committee, is that acceptance of the adoption of it, or is it just to be dealt with at the steering committee?

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

It's to be dealt with at the steering committee.

[Darren Fisher, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

The steering committee would come forward to this committee with a recommendation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

Correct. We've done it before.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

So we can discuss it at that time?

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

You bet.

[Mark Gerretsen, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Okay. That's fine.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

Can I get a show of hands, just to make sure we're all in favour of adopting this motion by Mr. Garrison?

(Motion agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

Gentlemen, thank you very much for your time. I appreciate it. If you would be so kind as to stick around for a photo, we would appreciate it. Thank you so much.

The meeting is adjourned.