Official Languages Committee on Sept. 27th, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

I propose that we proceed since there seems to be unanimous agreement around the table.

Who had moved the main motion? Was it you, Mr. Généreux? I propose that you withdraw your main motion and we unanimously adopt the one we have before us.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

That is fine with me.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Is that acceptable to everyone?

(The motion is adopted.)

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

The next point...

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

The list is being photocopied. I had problems with my computer. Everything is working fine in Parliament!

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

So we will distribute the original witness list.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

You made us work for that yesterday.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Yes, but there are additions. Mr. Boissonneault submitted a list of additional witnesses, and Mr. Samson submitted one.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Are you talking about the roadmap or about immigration?

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

I am talking about immigration.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Mr. Chair, last week, you asked that Mr. Samson, Mr. Arseneault, Mr. Choquette and I meet to prepare a list. When we met, we did not know there were other witnesses. We would have done it differently; we would have worked together.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Pardon me, but I do not understand.

Mr. Samson, I am listening.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

We had submitted this list at the last meeting, but we did not have it yesterday.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

I had it, but...

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Did we have it yesterday?

Mrs. Boucher, our process will not change, unless we realize something. For people who are not part of the government or community organizations, they are submissions. So we can have the four questions sent out to all these groups for them to answer them. I do not think that changes anything about yesterday's work.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

We should stop going in circles, or we will not accomplish anything.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

I would like to clarify things. On Thursday, from 8:45 a.m. to 9:45 a.m., we will meet with representatives of the Fédération nationale des conseils scolaires francophones, and from 9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., we will meet with representatives of the Réseau de développement économique et d'employabilité Canada.

Those are the groups we will be hearing from on Thursday.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

I am going to ask my question again: why is all of that decided in advance? Why were we asked to form a small group to review the witness list and allocate hours or half-hours? Why did you ask us to work together, when once we get here, we find that everything has already been decided?

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Mr. Chair, I would like to answer, if I may.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Go ahead, Mr. Samson.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

That is a good question. There is no problem with wanting to understand.

We cannot stop the bus when it is moving. The other day, we scheduled the first two or three meetings while waiting for the Committee to establish a process. That is all we did. If we had not done that, we could not have confirmed any witnesses for Thursday.

This group is the one that was on our priority list. This is not individuals from other groups; this is our community.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

All right.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

That is all.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Mrs. Boucher, I am listening.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Except that we duplicated and triplicated the work.