Official Languages Committee on April 16th, 2013

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Okay, the amendment has carried.

(Amendment agreed to)

Now we are back to clause 2, as amended.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Chair, you asked whether the amendment—

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

It is adopted.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I said, no, they did not answer, and a hand was raised.

May we have a recorded vote?

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Yes, if you want to.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Please.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

I therefore hand the floor over to the clerk...

Mr. Galipeau, do you wish to speak?

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

You are being asked to redo a vote for which you have already declared the result. You cannot put toothpaste back into the tube.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Yes, Mr. Galipeau, you are correct.

Mr. Godin, the vote has been taken and the chair has declared it adopted and we're back to the main clause.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I have a point of order.

How can you declare the motion carried when only one hand was raised on the government side?

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Because I saw five members on this side and six members on that side—

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

With their hands down.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

No, all giving their consent or non-consent. So as the chair, based on my judgment of the 11 members' intentions indicated either visually or orally, I came to the conclusion that the amendment had carried. So as Mr. Galipeau has pointed out, the chair did declare the amendment carried. if you want to record all the subsequent amendments and clauses as amended or non-amended, I will instruct the clerk to do so.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Please, and at the same time

I would like to say this: I have put toothpaste back into the tube when I had to.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

So we're back to clause 2, which is amended.

Is there any further debate on clause 2 as amended?

Mr. Trottier.

[Bernard Trottier, Conservative, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

I would like to add this.

After the last meeting, I received further information on the standards of gender-neutral language regarding positions. We agree on how positions are defined. We use a masculine title, but that is a convention used by Justice Canada. Furthermore, without articles, everything is consistent and gender-neutral. We are therefore in favour of this way of describing everything.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

That only means that the bill contained no errors. It was mentioned at previous meetings that there were spelling mistakes and things of that kind and that the masculine had been used more.

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

It still is.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

That is what Mr. Trottier wants to clarify.

[Bernard Trottier, Conservative, Etobicoke—Lakeshore, ON]

Mr. Godin, it was about capital letters. Why is the word "commissaire" written with a capital in one place and not in another? The explanation that was given to us is that that appears in other acts of Parliament. There may have been previous errors, but we are preserving them in our current bill.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

Those are questions.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Mr. Galipeau.

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

Mr. Chair, I listened to the discussion on the paragraph in clause 2. After listening to what was said, I would like to suggest to my colleagues that we add the adverb "clairement" after the verb "comprendre".