Evidence of meeting #99 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 chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Liberal
Conservative
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
No, I'm still waiting for a vote on the decision of the chair. If my colleague wants to challenge the chair on the admissibility of the motion, he need only do so and there will be a vote. It's not complicated.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
Hold on, everybody. Out of respect for the interpreters, I ask that you speak one person at a time.
I repeat what I said earlier: Given the way it would be amended by the amendment and subamendment that have been proposed, the motion is not in order, and I've explained to you why. The only procedure possible—and this is consistent with what Mr. Godin heard yesterday in the House of Commons—is to report to the Speaker of the House. The committee has to send a report to the House; that's all it can do.
Mr. Samson is right. He asked for a ruling on it, and I just ruled on it. Now, the committee can accept or not accept the ruling.
If it's accepted and then there's a resolution to ask that it be reported to the House—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
Wait, Mr. Beaulieu, I'm going to finish what I'm saying.
First of all, the committee can decide to accept or reject the chair's decision. In the first instance, the committee can accept it and ask to report back to the House. That's one solution. In the second instance, the committee can reject the chair's ruling on the amendment, the subamendment and Mr. Godin's motion, and it will go back to the House in that case as well. We have to choose one or the other.
Since a vote has been called, I have no choice but to proceed with it.
Mr. Beaulieu, if your point of order concerns this procedure, I will give you the floor. If not, we'll go to a vote.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Absolutely.
I see that as a no‑brainer. We don't have the power to remove the member from his position as a parliamentarian, but we do have the right to call for it. As a committee, we have the right to have opinions and make requests. We don't have the right to expel him, that's for sure. We don't do that. We ask that he apologize, we give our opinion, and we recognize that he isn't worthy of being a parliamentarian. So I think that—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
I understand all that, Mr. Beaulieu, but I don't want us to fall into—
Bloc
Liberal
Darrell Samson Liberal Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS
There you have it, Mr. Chair: We are calling for a vote.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
We are asking for a vote, but just before that, I will refer to page 1058 of our green bible, our rule book that contains House of Commons jurisprudence. I'm going to read to you verbatim an excerpt that applies to the current context. It's under the heading “Disorder and Misconduct”, in the section dealing with committees and questions of privilege.
However, neither committees nor their Chairs have the authority to censure an act of disorder or misconduct. If a committee desires that specific sanctions be taken against those disrupting the proceedings, it must report the situation to the House.
That's what I am explaining to you.
Having said that, the vote has been called, and we will go to a vote.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Mr. Chair, Mr. Généreux's amendment asks that the committee report this incident to the House.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
That's what I've been explaining to you for a while now. Read all the proposed amendments and subamendments in their entirety. In this form, it isn't admissible.
The vote has been called, and it's too late. We'll go to the vote.
That said, there are other things we can do.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
We are voting on my decision that Mr. Godin's motion, given the way it would have been amended by the amendment and subamendment, is not in order, for the reasons I have explained to you.
(Ruling of the chair overturned: nays 6; yeas 4)
Liberal
The Chair Liberal René Arseneault
According to procedure, given the result of the committee's vote, the motion becomes in order. We will continue the debate at the stage we were at. Mr. Beaulieu had the floor. The subamendment has been circulated.
Were you finished your remarks, Mr. Beaulieu?
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
No.
As for the second point, I consider that the behaviour at issue is obviously not worthy of the role of chair of a parliamentary association, all the more so since the member refused to apologize for four days. He made it worse by saying that it was not only extremist, but simplistic as well and that it came down to taking him for a fool. I think the consequences are much more serious. It’s become insulting to all those who defend French in Quebec and have the same opinions as these researchers.
It seems that by apologizing this way, somewhat hastily, the member is trying to sweep it under the rug.
Even the Prime Minister made it worse by saying that those who defend this point of view want to isolate Quebec, or even that we are against Franco-Ontarians. We are absolutely not against Franco-Ontarians or francophones outside Quebec. We’ve always supported them here, in the House.
