Evidence of meeting #12 for Official Languages in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was roadmap.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
Have you read it? Do you have any questions? Are you okay with it?
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Mr. Chair, I will be very candid with you. Mr. Choquette just told me about the letter sent by Ms. May following this proposal. I want to understand the situation. I will tell you quite frankly that I unfortunately did not have the time to read the motion before coming here.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis
Ms. Lapointe, it would benefit everyone if you could read the proposed motion.
Conservative
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
The motion is the following:
That, in relation to Orders of Reference from the House respecting Bills, (a) the Clerk of the Committee shall, upon the Committee receiving such an Order of Reference, write to each Member who is not a member of a caucus represented on the Committee to invite those Members to file with the Clerk of the Committee, in both official languages, any amendments to the Bill, which is the subject of the said Order, which they would suggest that the Committee consider; (b) suggested amendments filed, pursuant to paragraph (a), at least 48 hours prior to the start of clause-by-clause consideration of the Bill to which the amendments relate shall be deemed to be proposed during the said consideration, provided that the Committee may, by motion, vary this deadline in respect of a given Bill; and (c) during the clause-by-clause consideration of a Bill, the Chair shall allow a Member who filed suggested amendments, pursuant to paragraph (a) an opportunity to make brief representations in support of them.
Conservative
Bernard Généreux Conservative Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Where did you get that?
Liberal
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to begin by congratulating the committee on being transparent by holding its discussions publicly, and not in camera.
The other issue I want to raise is the concern expressed by Elizabeth May. She wants to present her views to our committee. Whether she is right or wrong, we should at least take the time to hear her out in order to better understand her concerns over the amendments.
I know that, in the past, we have been inundated by hundreds of amendments and had to spend long hours considering them in the House of Commons. The committee could potentially experience the same thing with hundreds of amendments being put forward. So we should try to find a compromise that would help us improve the way we study bills.
When it comes to our committee, it should not be required to study bills this often, but it could still be required to do so occasionally. I think that, as parliamentarians, we have to operate with a high level of transparency and be committed to introducing the best possible bills, whether our political party is in power or in opposition. That is in the best interest of Canadians, whom we represent.
I propose that we take about 15 minutes at the end of one of our meetings to hear from Ms. May. The committee would then be able to make a decision regarding the vote, if everyone agrees.
Since we have no bills on the agenda, there is no hurry to adopt this motion.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
To my knowledge, when an MP who is not a member of the committee takes the floor, they use another member's speaking time to do so. Will you yield her your floor time? I think that we all want to hold on to our time. If someone who is not part of an official caucus takes the floor, that means we are yielding our time to them. I am perfectly happy to have my five or six minutes of floor time to ask witnesses questions. Those are the implications. I doubt that your goal is to give up your floor time.
Liberal
NDP
François Choquette NDP Drummond, QC
That is why we have to hear what Ms. May has to say. We don't know what exactly she wants to explain. In her letter, she asks that we give her an opportunity to come speak to us. I think it would be appropriate to set aside 10 or 15 minutes at the end of a meeting to hear from Ms. May, especially since we have meetings with nothing yet planned on the agenda.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Denis Paradis
Allow me to comment before we move on. Ms. May put that request to all the House committees, and not just to our committee. This does not concern only Ms. May, but all independent MPs.
Liberal
Linda Lapointe Liberal Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC
I will respond to this.
Truth be told, we are giving her an opportunity to participate in the committee; all she needs to do is give us 48 hours' notice. We are not trying to exclude her or the Bloc Québécois representatives. We are asking them to give us notice. Under these conditions, if they want to take the floor, we will let them. They could also propose amendments.
Liberal