Official Languages Committee on June 6th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

That raises a question, Ms. Ashton.

Mr. Drouin said that, if we had unanimous consent, he would withdraw his motion so we could hear the witnesses' presentations and proceed with our study of Bill C‑13.

You introduced an amendment, and Mr. Beaulieu moved a subamendment to your amendment. I must therefore request the committee's unanimous consent to withdraw all that, that is to say, so we can withdraw Mr. Beaulieu's subamendment, your amendment and Mr. Drouin's motion. So we would be starting all over again.

That's what I suggest, with the committee's unanimous consent, of course.

Is anyone opposed to that?

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

I'm opposed to it, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

All right.

Ms. Ashton wants the motion to be upheld.

We will now move on to Mr. Beaulieu's subamendment.

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

Yes, that's correct.

I can't discuss that aspect.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

That's fine.

Mr. Gourde, you have the floor on the subamendment moved by Mr. Beaulieu. Then it will be Ms. Lattanzio's turn.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lévis—Lotbinière, QC]

I had a point of order concerning what happened a few moments ago.

When you suspended, negotiations were under way, but five members of the committee attending the meeting via the Zoom app were unable to take part. That limits things. The committee should have gone in camera so everyone could participate in the discussion.

Ms. Ashton was in the same position as I was: we were In limbo, even though we could see you gesticulating. Now you're making a proposal, but we didn't take part in the debate. That's really not constructive. We're going backward instead of forward.

I'll stop there, Mr. Chair, but I'd like to bring it to your attention that we may have made a mistake.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

You are absolutely right, Mr. Gourde.

Allow me to be the first to apologize. We didn't realize that our colleagues attending the meeting via Zoom were excluded once we suspended. We learned that a few moments later. My apologies. We will know for the next time.

Ms. Lattanzio, you have the floor on Mr. Beaulieu's subamendment.

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I will permit myself to say the following: We've invited guests to appear before us today. They've been patiently waiting. I understand that the matter we're discussing is equally important, as the committee does want to be able to hear many witnesses and do its work diligently on this very important piece of legislation.

That being said, I think that discussions may well pursue beyond the time of today's committee. I would propose at this point, Mr. Chairman, that we please adjourn the debate and possibly leave the opportunity for members to speak to one another perhaps after today's session, as we will reconvene on Wednesday. To hold up the witnesses for all the time we have to this point is undue. I think that my proposal would be a reasonable one, if I can permit myself to say that at this point in time, Mr. Chairman.

I submit to my colleagues that we adjourn the debate on this issue and possibly take it up again another time, and that we start listening to our witnesses who have been patiently waiting now for an hour.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Madame Lattanzio, thanks for your comments.

I understand that you're proposing we cease the debate on the subamendment. Is that right?

Then we'll go straight to the question.

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

Mr. Chair, before we vote, I have a point of order.

I made exactly the same request half an hour ago.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Godin, we were discussing the amendment earlier, but we had to finish discussing the subamendment.

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

Is my colleague requesting that we adjourn debate on the subamendment?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Yes, that's correct.

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

I was just going to say that perhaps Mr. Beaulieu intended to withdraw his subamendment.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

All right. Now we agree on that.

No further debate is possible because we have to vote.

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

I'm prepared to withdraw my subamendment.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Beaulieu has informed us that he is withdrawing his subamendment.

Do we have unanimous consent for Mr. Beaulieu to withdraw his subamendment?

Everyone appears to agree on that.

(Subamendment withdrawn)

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

We will now go back to Ms. Ashton's amendment.

As no one wishes to ask questions, I call the question.

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Mr. Chair…

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Go ahead, Ms. Lattanzio.

[Patricia Lattanzio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

The request to end debate, to adjourn debate, concerns the entire debate on procedure. You proceeded step by step, and my colleague Mr. Beaulieu withdrew his subamendment. I would do the same for the amendments moved by my colleague Ms. Ashton in her amendment. We must therefore adjourn debate on this matter and proceed with the hearing of our witnesses who, I repeat, have been waiting very patiently for more than an hour.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you, Ms. Lattanzio.

That concludes all debate.

We are now on Ms. Ashton's amendment. It is moved that debate cease and that we call the question on this amendment.

Madam Clerk, you have the floor.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Ariane Gagné-Frégeau]

You are voting to adjourn debate on Ms. Ashton's amendment.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I'm lost in this procedural maze.

Ms. Lattanzio, we voted on the motion and it was negatived. We cannot revisit it.

We now have Ms. Ashton's amendment, which we must vote on to determine whether it is adopted.

Go ahead, Mr. Godin.

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

I request that we adjourn debate on Ms. Ashton's amendment.