Public Safety Committee on June 4th, 2024

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Thank you, Chair.

Very briefly, Professor Juneau, I want to talk about part 4 and the definition of “arrangement” in the new act that's going to be enacted. It's talking about whether “a person undertakes” some of these things “under the direction of or in association with a foreign principal”.

Some people have raised concerns about “association”. Do you have any concerns about that? You brought up the theme of transparency. Do you think we need to further clarify this?

[Dr. Thomas Juneau]

With apologies, that gets into a level of technical detail that is beyond my expertise. I'm sorry.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Okay, that's understood.

I'd like to take a moment just to thank all of our witnesses for helping guide us through this study.

Mr. Chair, I have to move a motion for some housekeeping for committee business. This was a motion that I gave notice of last Friday, May 31. I'll just read it:

That, in relation to its study of Bill S-210, An Act to restrict young persons’ online access to sexually explicit material—

[Frank Caputo, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Mr. Caputo, go ahead on a point of order.

[Frank Caputo, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

I believe that we're operating under a House order that would supersede any other motion. Can the clerk provide input on that, please?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I don't believe this would be out of order, but I'll ask the clerk.

Mr. MacGregor has the floor. He's entitled to move his motion.

[Frank Caputo, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Thank you for checking that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

We received notice of the motion some time ago, so it is in order—

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

Chair, can I speak to the same point of order?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Go ahead on a point of order.

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

I would have to disagree.

If you look at the actual order from the House, this committee is to be seized with no other committee business until this matter is done. The fact that the motion's on the table and has been already presented to the committee doesn't matter; we can't be talking about that until we're done with this particular issue. That's the point that Mr. Caputo was trying to make and that I'll be making again, because that's the position we're at.

We have to honour the direction we received from the House that our time should not be taken up with anything but this.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

The House order does not preclude us from dealing with other matters. It asks us to deal with this in a concentrated manner. I forget the exact wording.

Was there someone else who wished to speak on this point of order?

Mr. Villemure, you have the floor.

[René Villemure, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. MacGregor used his time to table his motion, so I don't think there's a problem.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Thank you, Chair.

Now that we've dealt with that, I'd like to resume and—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Just briefly, sir, I believe this brings our questioning to an end.

I would like to thank the witnesses for their presence and their contributions to this meeting and to our study. I would invite them to leave if it is their wish to do so.

Thank you very much.

Mr. MacGregor, please go ahead.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

Thank you, Chair.

I'll read it into the record officially. I move:

That, in relation to its study of Bill S-210, An Act to restrict young persons' online access to sexually explicit material, and pursuant to Standing Order 97.1(1), the committee request the approval of the House for a 30-sitting-day extension in order to properly and adequately study the bill, hear from witnesses, and conduct clause-by-clause consideration of the bill with amendments, before it is otherwise deemed reported back to the House without amendment on June 7, 2024.

I'll be very brief here, Mr. Chair. This is a simple housekeeping motion. If we get to June 7, this bill will be deemed reported back to the House. I think it would be a dereliction of duty for us to not study the bill and hear from additional witnesses.

I'm not going to speak any further on this motion. I have canvassed the room. I believe the majority of this committee is willing to vote, and vote in the affirmative, on this motion. I'd appreciate it if we could keep our remarks to a minimum and arrive at a quick vote so that we can then proceed with the business of Bill C-70 for the remainder of the week.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I'm sorry. I was getting advice—not that I'm always going to take my advice, but I get it.

Mr. MacGregor, have you finished your point?

Mr. Caputo, the floor is yours.

[Frank Caputo, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Consistent with what Mr. MacGregor just said, I would move that we adjourn debate at this time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

A motion to adjourn debate has been made. I guess we'll take a recorded vote.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Just ask. We support it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Is it on division?

[Garnett Genuis, Conservative, Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB]

No. I want a recorded vote.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Yes. Okay. We'll have a recorded vote.

(Motion agreed to: yeas 9; nays 2)

Thank you. The debate is adjourned.

That wraps up our business for today.

I'd like to let the committee know that notices will be going out for tomorrow. At this point, it looks like there will be two panels. At this point, the notice will show two individuals on the second panel, but that's expected to change as we get confirmation over the next little while. It will be right after the votes, so around 4:30.

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

Remember, Simon, there are supposed to be eight or nine votes. That will take two hours, so we should probably plan so that we don't have a resource issue. Maybe it should be from 5:00 to 7:00, or something like that, as opposed to 4:30, and then we would have to get permission to extend.