Official Languages Committee on June 6th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Ms. Ashton.

Go ahead, Mr. Beaulieu.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

I'm prepared to side with the members of the committee on Ms. Ashton's amendment regarding paragraph h), but I would retain my proposal to amend paragraph c) to read “during the meetings starting on the weeks”. I don't necessarily want us to limit the time reserved for witnesses.

I don't know if I'm authorized to do so, but I would delete part of my subamendment, the part concerning paragraph h).

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Beaulieu, you must obtain unanimous consent to amend the subamendment to Ms. Ashton's amendment.

As I understand it, you would like the wording of the amendment to remain as is, but what would you do about the 15 hours of study in question?

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

I wouldn't delete paragraph h). I would retain Ms. Ashton's proposed wording, which would remove the maximum limit of 15 hours of study.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

That's great.

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

However, I retain the amendment to paragraph c): “… starting on the weeks…”

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

You want to add “starting”, but what does that change?

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

The idea is for us to avoid being compelled to hear witnesses only in the weeks of June 6 and 13 of this year.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Then you want us to say “starting on the week of June 6” and to delete “and June 13”.

We would then simply be saying “starting on the week of June 6”. Is that what you mean?

[Mario Beaulieu, Bloc, La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC]

Yes, that's it.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

So to clarify the subamendment that Mr. Beaulieu moves to amend Ms. Ashton's amendment, paragraph c) would read as follows: “the clerk invite witnesses to appear starting on the week of June 6”.

The wording of paragraph h) would remain as proposed by Ms. Ashton.

Go ahead, Mr. Godin.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Chair, following the Bloc Québécois' deletion of the wording of the end of paragraph h) and its correction by the clerk, you said “fixe”, but what I'm reading is this: “la greffière invite des témoins à comparaître lors de réunions à partir du 6 juin 2022”.

I request a vote on the subamendment.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I'm sorry, Mr. Godin, but you may not request a vote.

I didn't quite understand. Mr. Godin, what did you say about paragraph c)?

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Mr. Chair, you said, “la greffière fixe les comparutions des témoins”, whereas the wording now reads “la greffière invite des témoins à comparaître lors de réunions à partir du 6 juin 2022”. I think that's what Mr. Beaulieu mentioned.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I see.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

I requested a vote, and you told me I could request it. Is that correct?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

That's correct. You have to wait for debate to end to request it.

Go ahead, Mr. Drouin.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I suggest that we suspend for five minutes so we can come to an agreement rather than just argue back and forth among speakers. Then we can resume without needing to introduce subamendments, subsubamendments and so on.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I agree.

We will suspend for a few minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

My apologies to our colleagues and to our guests who are participating in the meeting through the Zoom app.

We were discussing Mr. Beaulieu's subamendment. Is there any further debate on the subamendment?

Go ahead, Mr. Drouin.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I know it requires unanimous consent, but I'd like to withdraw my entire motion because there doesn't appear to be any agreement. We can debate the motion and proceed with all the votes, but it won't matter because we don't agree on the duration of the work. We have to work on Bill C‑13. I need unanimous consent to withdraw my motion. If we have to vote, let's vote.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Do you propose to withdraw the entire motion?

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

My motion is the root of the problem. If I remove the root of the problem, we won't need to deal with the subamendments.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I will consult the clerk because an amendment has been introduced to amend the principal motion, since a subamendment was introduced to amend the amendment. It seems to me that, if we withdraw the principal motion, that will end debate, but I will confirm that.

I suggest we request unanimous consent to withdraw Mr. Beaulieu's subamendment to amend Ms. Ashton's amendment, to withdraw Ms. Ashton's amendment to amend the principal motion and to withdraw Mr. Drouin's motion.

That would be the simplest way to proceed if all parties around the table are in agreement.

Do we have unanimous consent?

I see there are some questions.

Go ahead, Ms. Ashton.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

My amendment reflects my wish to add more meetings. As I said, I don't want to limit the committee's work by restricting the number of hours of study that should be scheduled. It would be a good idea to clarify the process regarding the amendments. I'd like to know how we can agree to add more formal meetings to the committee's schedule.