Evidence of meeting #38 for Official Languages in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was point.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
I have a point of order, Mr. Chair. I want to go back to your reply to Mr. Serré.
I would like your opinion on my procedural comment. Is it true that the committee can decide at any time to end the clause-by-clause study?
I gave this as additional information.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
Just a moment, everyone.
I answered that question. I mentioned one extreme but not the other. At one extreme, the committee can continue a study ad vitam aeternam. At the other, of course, the committee is free to do whatever it wants through votes. You are absolutely right.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
Ultimately, only the House of Commons can impose a deadline on the committee. That is my understanding of our rules.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
It is also my understanding, Mr. Chair, that the House can impose that. However, I think we can decide that here at committee, as well.
Liberal
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
That is why I wanted to make that clear, Mr. Chair. We have control, but unfortunately, if we do a quick count, we understand that the opposition parties, the Conservative Party and the Bloc Québécois, do not have a majority. So, there is no need to worry.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Absolutely, Mr. Chair. I'm not questioning that. I'm simply stating the facts.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
I have a point of order, Mr. Chair. Could we proceed clause by clause with the amendment if we had unanimous consent?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
I'm not sure I understood your question correctly. You are asking whether the committee can decide unanimously to proceed with clause-by-clause consideration.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
The answer is no, we couldn't do that right now. There is a minimum procedure to follow. The legislative clerk must be notified, documents must be produced so that they're on hand—
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
No, that's not what I meant.
When we dealt with my subamendment earlier, we did it point by point. Since Mr. Godin presented a set of proposals at another meeting, I wanted to know if we would proceed point by point with the unanimous consent of the committee.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
I'm sorry, I totally misunderstood what you said. I apologize.
Absolutely, Mr. Beaulieu. I'm sorry, I thought you were talking about doing clause-by-clause right away.
Bloc
Liberal
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
I would like to propose that we look at these points one by one.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
If there is unanimous consent, then no problem.
I took the liberty of asking you to proceed in one block. I don't wish to repeat myself, but I let Mr. Godin present his amendment in one block. It was later suggested that we deal with the elements of his amendment one by one.
Is there unanimous consent to vote on one proposal at a time, as suggested by Mr. Beaulieu? In other words, are we going to vote on all five of Mr. Godin's amendments separately or as a whole?
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
I give you my personal consent, Mr. Chair, and that of the Conservative Party of Canada, of course.
This allows us to have our say on each of the points.