Official Languages Committee on Oct. 30th, 2023

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Mr. Beaulieu, you are saying 1:30, but I don't know where that comes from. We have an hour to spend on this subject, and we started at 11:05 on the dot.

I don't want us to talk about Mr. Brock or his question or how he is asking it. I would like the committee to open a parenthesis right away to decide what it is going to do with the next hour.

Mr. Godin, you have the floor.

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

Mr. Chair, as you said, yes, other witnesses were called to appear starting at noon. By now, we should have finished hearing the first group of witnesses, but because of the Liberals' filibustering we are unfortunately in this situation.

If the House of Commons had summoned members for a vote, the invited witnesses would not have been able to be heard in committee and their time would then have been wasted. This kind of situation is unfortunate for them. However, on this side of the table, and I am talking about the Conservative Party and Bloc Québécois members, we are not responsible.

I would not want this situation to stifle us by preventing us from asking the Commissioner our questions, when he has been kind enough to be here today. I would like my colleague to be given the floor so he can finish his question and us to then be able to ask other questions on the subject being studied, before moving on to the other witnesses.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Ms. Goodridge, I will give you the floor on the subject of this point of order. What do you have to say on this subject?

[Laila Goodridge, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

In fact, I had raised a point of order before Mr. Iacono spoke. Several times during the meeting I have been ignored when I raised a point of order.

I just wanted to make a point. I see nothing in House of Commons Procedure and Practices that would justify my Liberal colleagues' points of order. If they are unable to point to a particular page to which they are referring, the meeting should proceed in the normal way.

Can we proceed to Mr. Brock, please?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Yes, but, again, I'm still in the bracket that we had. As a committee, we need to make a decision concerning the fact that the hour is gone—it is already behind us—and in the second hour, we're supposed to have other witnesses.

If I have to make a decision, I will make it, but I am asking the committee to tell me what it would like to do.

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

I would propose that we be able to finish a round of questions. Mr. Brock had spoken, but there was still another round of questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

In this round of questions, what remained was less than five minutes for Mr. Brock and five minutes for the Liberals.

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

Is there no speaking time for us?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

In fact, there will be no more time.

[Marc Dalton, Conservative, Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge, BC]

We are going to stop in five minutes, more or less.

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

Basically...

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Help me make a decision; otherwise I am going to make it myself.

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

Mr. Chair, I propose that we let Mr. Brock finish his turn and then give the Liberals, the Bloc Québécois and the NDP a turn. Then we could conclude the discussion with the Commissioner and continue with the other witnesses.

That is my proposal, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

In practice, that would mean that we would still have about 12 minutes with the Commissioner, taking the time that Mr. Brock has left into account.

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

That will depend on the filibustering the other side will be doing.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Thank you for your comment, Mr. Godin.

Are there comments on this proposal? I would really like us to resolve the question of the time for the next hour and close this sidebar.

Is there unanimous consent to continue? I see no one objecting.

In that case, Mr. Brock, you have about two minutes left. You have the floor.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

With all due respect, Chair, I was cut off within 30 seconds of my five-minute round. Have I lost two and a half minutes?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

I stopped the clock, and I put it back. I indicated to you that I was putting the clock back, and then it came back to others. I stopped it again.

Plus or minus, you have two and a half minutes that are gone.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

Thank you.

Commissioner, I apologize for not only what transpired last Monday but also what is clearly happening today. Again, if the service had reasonable and probable grounds to believe our Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, committed a criminal offence, you would charge him accordingly. Is that correct?

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

There, that was a question, Mr. Brock.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

That is a question. The follow-up question was going to be this: How many fully bilingual RCMP officers—

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Monsieur Brock, I'm sorry, but that was a question.

You agree with me that it was a question.

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

That was a question.

[The Chair, Liberal, René Arseneault]

Okay. Do you agree with me that you just asked the commissioner a question?

[Larry Brock, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

I repeated the same question that was put to the commissioner before the interruptions.