Natural Resources Committee on Sept. 18th, 2024

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

I have a point of order.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

It is because energy and resource development—

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Mrs. Stubbs, we have a point of order from Mr. Angus.

Mr. Angus, go ahead on the point of order.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

I think all my colleagues would agree I'm a pretty patient guy. Heck, when I came in this afternoon, my hair was still dark brown, but I did not hear any snickering. I think it's really unfair to put into the record falsehoods as though people aren't taking Mrs. Stubbs' flights of fancy seriously. There was no snickering. I think it should be on the record, unless there's a different definition of snickering, and it's also beside the point. If we're not going to continue to waste our valuable witnesses' time—

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

—then I would say, instead of these asides and slurs, that she just get to the point so we can vote one way or the other and then get back to witness testimony on something that is very important.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Mr. Angus, we have a point of order from Mr. Patzer.

Mr. Patzer, go ahead on the point of order.

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Thank you very much.

I would just like to acknowledge that I did actually also hear somebody snicker at the table here. I would just suggest that people should be respectful of colleagues when they have the floor.

Thank you.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Okay, now I'm snickering, but not then. I'm snickering now because it is kind of getting surreal.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Thank you, Mr. Patzer and Mr. Angus, for your points of order. I do now have a point of order from Ms. Jones.

Before I go to you, Ms. Jones, I would ask all colleagues to treat all colleagues...and give them the opportunity to speak and not interrupt them where possible, because focus and attention to their debate is quite important as we listen intently.

I'll go to Ms. Jones on her point of order.

[Yvonne Jones, Liberal, Labrador, NL]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to speak to the point of order that was raised by Mr. Angus.

There have already been enough falsehoods recorded in this session of the meeting so far. I don't think we need to have snickering on the record. I'm online and I can tell you I'm looking at all the people who are online. No one has been snickering. No one has been making any comments whatsoever. In fact, I'd love to hear the witnesses make some comments as opposed to having Mrs. Stubbs' words in their mouths continuing to reverberate what she believes their opinions are.

I think that if we're not going to move forward with our witnesses today, I'd like to move that we suspend.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Thank you, Ms. Jones, for your point of order. We cannot move a motion on a point of order, but that is taken under advisement, I guess. Colleagues, as they have the opportunity, will do that as we move forward. Thank you for your view of the committee and for not noticing anything unusual.

I have Monsieur Garon on a point of order.

Go ahead, Monsieur Garon.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

On the point of order, to my great surprise, Conservative colleagues are telling me that what we are currently debating may apply to me. I do smile at this table from time to time. We have asked our assistants to check the standing orders, but I would like to know if there is a standing order that prohibits us from being in a good mood. I find that Ottawa is lacking in cheerfulness. I would be surprised if there were such a rule, but can the clerk check whether the standing orders still allow cheerfulness in committee?

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Thank you, Monsieur Garon.

Before I go to the clerk, it's okay to smile. I think smiles are welcomed.

I'm going to go to you, but I want to ask this because Monsieur Garon did ask a direct question to the clerk.

Did you catch that?

Do you want to repeat yourself, Monsieur Garon, just so the clerk can hear?

He asked a direct question on a standing order, so it's regarding that. I just wanted you to—

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

I asked the clerk to check whether there was a standing order that prevented us from smiling because, unfortunately, that would take away half of my personality and make my wife very sad.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

I don't believe there is, but would you like to ask the clerk to respond...? No.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank the clerk, as well.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Thank you, Monsieur Garon.

Go ahead, Mr. Angus, on a point of order.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Thank you.

I have not taken the time to welcome Monsieur Garon as a substitute. I feel his presence is really helpful, especially his good humour.

I'm glad that you clarified that smiling is not against the rules here, but the question is whether someone snickered. I think snickering invokes something that is more mean-spirited than smiling, and I did not hear snickering from Monsieur Garon. I saw a smile, and I thought it was helping to bring us together, but I did not hear snickering. If he did not snicker, and I haven't seen anyone else saying they snickered, then it does raise the question whether the Conservatives are continuing to hallucinate, and it feels like we're in this very strange hallucination, or if they are putting forward falsehoods, which would undermine our credibility as parliamentarians in having it on the record.

I would like to clarify, for people who will study this in school 100 years from now, what happened to Canadian democracy. People could still smile, but people weren't necessarily snickering.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Thank you for your points of order, colleagues, and for your interpretations of smiles and snickers.

I would ask colleagues to focus on the motion at hand and to get back to what we are discussing, which is the motion, so we can get back to our witnesses. It's always a good reminder not to use points of order for debate purposes. I think all our points of order are dealt with.

Now, I'm going to go back to you, Mrs. Stubbs.

Go ahead. The floor is yours.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Now all Canadians have seen the truth because every single member who just intervened took up all this time talking about snickering while they simultaneously said they wanted the witnesses to testify. They won't let me get to my point because they keep delaying and interfering, and in—

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

I'm sorry. I want to admit that now it is officially a snicker.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

We are going to suspend.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

I call the meeting back to order.

For the folks online, we are back from the suspension. We have lost a witness. The discussion for today's meeting...I think we have lost control of the meeting and we have lost a witness, so I'm going to see if there's consent from folks here to conclude today's meeting and adjourn.

[Some hon. members]

No.