Official Languages Committee on Nov. 1st, 2022

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

I completely agree with Mr. Godin and we are willing to accept the first point of his amendment.

I move that we vote on this amendment right away.

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

Mr. Chair, I appreciate the comment—

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

One moment. There is a procedure that applies.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

It's points 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the main motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

You talked about point 1.

I’d like the attention of committee members, please. These are procedural issues. I want to make sure that I go slowly enough to avoid causing any misunderstanding.

Mr. Serré, you are ready to withdraw point 1 from the main motion and to accept Mr. Godin’s amendment for that same point. The first point of your motion would be replaced by Mr. Godin’s amendment.

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

We can proceed to the vote.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Just a moment, Mr. Godin.

Mr. Serré, is that correct?

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Since you are the author of the main motion, the only way we can do this is by unanimous consent. I’m advising you of the procedure in this case.

That is what Mr. Serré just proposed.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Mr. Chair, I want to clarify some things.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Go ahead, Mr. Serré.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

As we said, we are studying Mr. Godin’s amendment one point at a time.

We are ready to vote in favour of the first four points of Mr. Godin’s amendment. However, we are going to vote against the fifth point of his amendment.

As Mr. Godin was saying, we need more time. So, we could add one week to point 5 of my motion.

Furthermore, Ms. Ashton mentioned several times to the committee that if we had additional resources, we could add a 6th point to hear from other witnesses.

That’s what I’m proposing.

I think it clearly demonstrates willingness to work together, as we were saying earlier.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

We will suspend the meeting for a few moments.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

We are back in session.

I did indeed correctly summarize what Mr. Serré just said.

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

Mr. Chair, I want to raise a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Yes, but…

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

It is important that I do it now.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Let me finish, please, Mr. Godin.

You are the next speaker on my list.

Mr. Serré, did I correctly summarize what you said about Mr. Godin’s amendments?

All right, that’s perfect.

That means I was not mistaken in what I understood and what I said before the committee before suspending the meeting.

Now, before I give the floor to Mr. Godin for his point of order, I want to make sure of one thing, Mr. Serré. You said the Liberals are ready to vote in favour of the first four points of Mr. Godin’s amendment. Your fifth point would remain, but there would be an additional week of time to hear from more witnesses, like in the sixth point.

There's nothing official about it. That is what Mr. Serré just said.

Mr. Godin, over to you. You have a point of order to make.

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

Mr. Chair, what is official is that my colleague made a point of order while I had the floor to talk about my amendment, and I was on the first point. It was therefore not a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

It was not a point of order; It was a suggestion.

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

May I continue, then?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Go ahead.

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

Thank you.

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

I also asked…

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Beaulieu, you can have the floor after Mr. Godin.