Evidence of meeting #1 for Public Safety and National Security in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
That takes care of two of the amendments. The third one is what Damien was referencing.
You're saying, wherever possible, the brief be submitted 72 hours in advance. The major problem is translation, but that's another issue.
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
Damien Kurek Conservative Battle River—Crowfoot, AB
The 72 hours are for the purpose of translation. That gives a day or two for translation, and then there is still time for committee members to review and have the briefs with them as statements are made. I'm trying to accommodate the good work our translators do.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
Could the clerk speak to the translation issue? We all want to see the statements ahead of time, but that doesn't always happen. Sometimes people send them only in English.
I'm just curious. It's “wherever possible”, so it doesn't really matter but....
3:55 p.m.
The Clerk
There is no issue with the motion as it is right now. Obviously, sometimes it won't be possible to get briefs translated in time. You also have some witnesses who don't actually prepare notes.
However, I'll give these instructions and clearly communicate them to the witnesses, and it will help them understand the expectations of the members.
October 8th, 2020 / 3:55 p.m.
Conservative
Glen Motz Conservative Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB
Chair, I just want clarification on what Pam recommended on the five to seven minutes. On which presentations do we decide to give them five minutes and on which presentations do we decide to give them seven minutes? If you're bored and falling asleep, obviously it's going to be five minutes.
How do we determine that? Will it always be seven minutes then? As a committee, I think we need to say it's either five minutes or seven minutes, because it's going to be tough to determine what you give.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
In the past what we have done is this. If we had three panellists, we went to five minutes, and if we had two, we had seven minutes. That's why I suggested the five and seven. I don't really think that we should be too prescriptive on this, but that's been the precedent before: Three panellists were given five minutes and two panellists were given a longer time.
That's why I suggested five and seven, Glen.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal John McKay
It is tough trying to keep people within the timelines. One becomes quite unpopular quite quickly, as you know, Glen.
Go ahead, Kamal.
3:55 p.m.
NDP
Jack Harris NDP St. John's East, NL
Thank you, Chair. I was just about to praise you for the excellent discretion you've exercised at this committee in the past, just to put Glen a little bit at ease.
I think the rule of five to seven minutes, normally depending on the number of witnesses, is fair. I am satisfied that the chair has been quite able to exercise discretion in a fair manner. Some people like to go on for more than five minutes, as you may have noticed. Some witnesses, in fact, feel deprived if they can't say more than five minutes' worth of stuff, so that's okay.
On the 72 hours, that may be a bit onerous for some unprofessional witnesses or people who might not normally prepare well in advance. I would be okay with that. The chair has acknowledged that he works with the witnesses, and you can't force people to give things 72 hours in advance or refuse them to be able to testify. I think that would limit the ability of the committee to hear evidence.
As long as it's seen that “wherever possible” is broadly interpreted by the chair and by the clerk in working with witnesses, I'd be happy with that, too. The rest is fine.
4 p.m.
Conservative
Glen Motz Conservative Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB
I just want to clarify the motion that we're on. I'm somewhat confused about it.
The witnesses are going to be given five to seven minutes for their opening statements, and whenever possible, the witnesses will provide their opening statements to the committee in advance.
4 p.m.
Conservative
Glen Motz Conservative Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB
Right.
At the discretion of the chair, the questioning of witnesses will be allocated to six minutes for the first questioner of each party—
4 p.m.
Conservative
Glen Motz Conservative Medicine Hat—Cardston—Warner, AB
We'll take that out. They'll be allocated six minutes for the first questioner of each party in round one—Conservative, Liberal, Bloc and NDP. In the second and subsequent rounds, the order and timing is Conservatives and Liberals for five, Bloc and NDP for two and a half each, in that order, and if there's any time left, Conservatives followed by Liberals.
