Natural Resources Committee on March 21st, 2024

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It looks like there is still a whole bunch of conversation happening around clause 147, so what I would propose is that, if we could get unanimous consent to stand down clause 147 and hold it until the end and, at the same time, get UC to reopen and stand down clause 38, which is its mirror-image clause in the Newfoundland portion, we can then have a conversation more fully on each of those clauses.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Thank you, Ms. Dabrusin.

Is it clear to everybody? It's to stand down clause 147 and also to reopen clause 38 in the previous portion of the bill and stand that down for later on as well, because they are mirroring clauses. This is so that you can think a bit more about the changes you may want to make and what you may want to do with them.

Do we have unanimous consent?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

(Clauses 38 and 147 allowed to stand)

Thank you.

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

I have a point of order, Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Mr. Patzer, go ahead.

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

Thank you, Chair.

Right before we suspended, my colleague Mrs. Stubbs was giving her intervention. We hear a lot from the Liberals about “respect, respect, respect”, but I just want to give Mr. Aldag this opportunity to apologize for telling my colleague Mrs. Stubbs to eff off. He mouthed the words. I saw him do it, and so did my colleague Mrs. Stubbs. I know he did it.

I would like to afford him the opportunity to unreservedly apologize, because if this is truly about respect and integrity, I would like to afford him the opportunity to show that those are principles he upholds.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Go ahead, Mr. Aldag.

[John Aldag, Liberal, Cloverdale—Langley City, BC]

Thank you for that opportunity.

I absolutely apologize if I said anything. I do get a bit frustrated when there are personal attacks and things being said, but I shouldn't have expressed my frustration in the way that I did. I apologize to everyone.

We need to show respect and uphold the dignity of this place. I will do my best to do that as we continue working forward on this legislation.

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

That's right.

To be clear, the only personal attack was on my colleague, Mrs. Stubbs, who was merely outlining what the government had done for a period of time, which is not a personal attack, but—

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

I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Thank you. I'm going to go to you on a point of order, Mr. Angus.

Thank you for your intervention. Thank you for providing that clarity and apology, Mr. Aldag.

Colleagues, I just want to remind everyone that we work on committee together, that we use appropriate language and that we conduct ourselves in that manner. I'm glad we've been able to come to a thoughtful resolution on that. Thank you to all parties.

I'm going to the point of order from Mr. Angus.

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

Thank you.

I'd like to thank Mr. Aldag for withdrawing. That is what I think is expected. It's also a tradition in Parliament that when someone apologizes that we accept the apology.

What I witnessed when that was happening was, I thought, a disgraceful gong show that embarrassed our committee, and there were multiple participants on the Conservative side. I'm not going to name them, but I thank Mr. Aldag for apologizing.

I think we need to move on, get the job done that Canadians sent us here to do and show that we're going to do this properly and with professionalism.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Thank you for your point of order on that.

Colleagues, I don't want to get into a point of order on a point of order, but I have a point of order from Mr. Dreeshen.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer—Mountain View, AB]

Thank you.

What Mr. Angus just indicated was that there was much more disorder, and of course he named our side for this, which he does on a regular basis. The point was, I believe, that perhaps Mr. Aldag had a bit more of a conditional apology. There was a lot of exchange going back and forth that was negative—

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Colleagues—and I don't want to cut you off, Mr. Dreeshen—I just noticed that we have bells.

We'll leave it at that, but I will at this point ask colleagues for unanimous consent to continue.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Chair, I asked for the floor before the bells rang.

I had asked to speak before the bells. I actually just wanted—

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

I know, Mrs. Stubbs. Unless we have unanimous consent, we cannot, because we do have bells.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

No, but I had asked to speak before. He was still speaking when the bells started, so we can't have rules for thee and not for me.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

Do we have unanimous consent to continue?

[An hon. member]

Yes.

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

No.

[The Chair, Liberal, George Chahal]

We do not have unanimous consent. I'm sorry.

Thank you, everyone—a great day's work.

The meeting is adjourned.