Public Safety Committee on Oct. 8th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

We have a very learned clerk, and he has many opinions. I'm sure he can express himself.

[The Clerk]

Thank you for the question, Ms. Michaud.

It's a bit hard right now to give you an answer, since the parties are in the midst of hashing out which committees are going to meet when and how often. That means we still don't know whether the committee is going to have the same meeting frequency as before, in other words, every week, twice a week. Until I have a specific timetable for the committee, it will be hard to help you figure out dates.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Kristina, do you still want to pursue your proposal in the form of a motion?

[Kristina Michaud, Bloc, Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC]

In this case, I think it's reasonable not to pursue the amendment, so I'll withdraw it.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Pam.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

If we're not going ahead, I was thinking that when we table the report in the House, perhaps we can include something in the report itself about having the government report back by a date.

There's so much uncertainty right now, and if Kristina is not going forward, then I can just let that go.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

At this point, unless there is other discussion, Pam's motion, as read into the record, is the only thing to be voted on. We would then move to Damien and Glen's concern about the discussion of what the other priorities of the committee are.

Is there any other discussion on Pam's motion?

(Motion agreed to)

Before I ask Damien and Glen to speak on other things that they feel concerned about, the clerk has sent me a note about the state of the ability to hold meetings virtually and otherwise, making it difficult for him to talk about timelines and the frequency of our meetings.

Mr. Clerk, I'll let you explain.

[The Clerk]

It's pretty much what I said in French the first time around. The parties are currently negotiating which committees are going to sit and at what frequency they will sit. This means that, at the moment, it's impossible for me to know how many meetings we have in the next few weeks or the next months. It makes it very difficult for me to assist members in planning their work. That's why I'm not giving you much information in terms of deadlines at this point.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you.

Damien or Glen, do you want to speak?

Damien.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that.

I think the confusion was in Ms. Damoff's introduction. It made it sound as though the motion was limiting the ability of the committee to discuss other items. I'm comfortable with moving forward on the committee business as scheduled, although I would make one note. Certainly I appreciate seeing all of you virtually and the circumstances that prohibit many of our regular activities as members of Parliament, but I would note the significant value of being able to have meetings in person and certainly would encourage, for sure, the hybrid setting.

As I mentioned before, I did have the opportunity to do a number of in-person committee meetings this summer that were very good. We talked a lot about the co-operation between members, and certainly I think a physical presence is a significant part of ensuring that can be the case going forward. I would make that note, but I appreciate Ms. Damoff's entire motion and the clarifications that it brought to the future work of the committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Thank you.

Glen, did you want to add anything?

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

I can't hear him.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

We still can't hear you, Glen.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Chair, on a point of order, if the interpreters can't hear him, I don't think he can participate.

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

I can't help it. There's a headset, but it doesn't work. I'm sorry.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

No, we need it to be bilingual.

Glen, I'm not trying to be difficult, but it's not fair to our francophone members if they're not getting translation.

[Damien Kurek, Conservative, Battle River—Crowfoot, AB]

Can I make a suggestion? Glen, you can call in with a telephone and use the telephone as a microphone that has the same quality as a telephone conversation. That might be an intermediate....

[Glen Motz, Conservative, Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB]

Yes.

Chair, I have a motion or two to present. I will do that shortly.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Yes.

While Glen is dialing up, we'll go to Gagan.

[Gagan Sikand, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

I just want to flag that I also want to reintroduce my motion that I brought to the committee last time, on gang violence.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Okay.

I need some guidance from the committee as to whether you wish to use the balance of the time, which would be until 5:30, to receive motions. I'm going to work on the assumption that once the motions are received, accepted and passed, they will then be referred to the subcommittee for work.

Pam.

[Pam Damoff, Liberal, Oakville North—Burlington, ON]

Chair, in previous committees in the last Parliament, it was always helpful if we set a date. All of the motions could be sent in, and then all of us get an opportunity to read them and to think about amendments.

We weren't able to give 48 hours' notice to do that, because we didn't have a committee, but I think we could just set a date and do it in quite short timing, have the opportunity to look at the studies and have an educated discussion on what we want to do as a committee moving forward. Once we decide on the studies, we can send it to the subcommittee.

It's difficult. Kristina had asked me to read the motion twice. We haven't seen any of the motions, and Glen is having difficulty with his audio. It has worked well on public safety in the last Parliament, and status of women, which I was on, so I would propose a date. Most people seem to have them already. Maybe we'd just go until Wednesday next week, and when all the studies are submitted to the clerk and distributed, then we can have a committee meeting, if that's the will of the committee, to go over them.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Unfortunately, it would seem that Glen is still struggling. He would have precedence in terms of presenting, and then I think Gagan is up.

I think the way Pam is suggesting is perfectly reasonable, but—

[Gagan Sikand, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Sorry, Chair, I was just going to speak to that and say that I agree with her. I think that's a better way of going about it.

[The Chair, Liberal, John McKay]

Okay. That would effectively mean you would have to withdraw your intention to file a motion, if that's all right.