Public Safety Committee on Sept. 19th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Okay. Are we ready to vote on that subamendment?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

I'm sorry, but is it this one that's been sent around or what I said?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

It's what you said.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Okay, well then I'm going to speak after. I'm on the speaking list for after.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

All right.

Are there any more speakers on the subamendment, as it was said? Seeing none, let's call a vote on the subamendment.

(Subamendment agreed to)

Now we're back to the amendment as subamended.

Ms. Dancho, go ahead.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Thank you, sir.

I would like to move just a very brief, quick subamendment to the subamendment we just passed to Ms. O'Connell's amendment. I'm getting confused by how many amendments we're working on, but I think you know what I mean. Ultimately, I would just say that, to what we just passed, I would add at the end the following: “or within 28 days of the adoption of this motion, whichever is sooner”. I believe that's in order.

I think I've explained my proposal correctly.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Okay, so on Ms. Dancho's second subamendment, are we clear?

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Yes, and the purpose is, Mr. Chair, just to ensure some accountability on this—just to be clear on what I'm putting forward, we've agreed that we'll bring the ministers back for two hours each and a few other things there in what we just passed, but we're just adding some accountability to it. Either we hear from the ministers for some investigation or in 28 days they both come back and talk to us, so it's just to be clear.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Also, to be clear, we can't compel the ministers to show up on a particular day.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

We can politely ask.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

We will always politely ask.

[Raquel Dancho, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Thank you, sir.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Is there any further discussion on Ms. Dancho's second subamendment? Seeing none, I'll call the vote.

(Subamendment agreed to)

Okay, so now we're on the amendment as doubly subamended. Is there any discussion on the amendment as amended? Seeing none, I'll call the vote on the amendment.

(Amendment agreed to)

Okay, so now we go back to the motion itself as—

[Jennifer O'Connell, Liberal, Pickering—Uxbridge, ON]

No, we just did that. We did the subamendment, the amendment, and then the motion as—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

That was your amendment as amended.

We now go back to the original motion as amended. Is there any discussion?

(Motion as amended agreed to)

Very well. Okay.

Go ahead, please, Ms. Damoff.

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

Thank you, Chair.

Before I get to my questions with the witnesses, I want to read a notice of motion that I submitted, and when I'm finished, I'm going to ask for unanimous consent to deal with it today.

That pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), and given recent charges by the United States Department of Justice against RT (the Russian state media broadcaster) in a scheme to funnel $10M to a media organization in North America; and that Canadian companies and individuals have been found to be connected to this Russian propaganda effort,

The committee invite the following witnesses to testify for no less two hours on their participation in Russian-backed interference and far right disinformation campaigns intended to manipulate the Canadian public:

a) Lauren Chen

b) Liam Donovan

c) Lauren Southern

The committee also invite concerned civil society representatives and disinformation experts to further examine the risks of this concerning activity:

1) Marcus Kolga, journalist

2) Aaron Shull, Managing Director at the Centre for International Governance Innovation

3) Wesley Wark, Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation

4) Stephanie Carvin, Professor at Carleton University

5) Thomas Juneau, Professor at University of Ottawa

6) Shelly Bruce, Former Chief of the Communications Security Establishment

7) Richard Fadden, Former Director of CSIS

8) Guillaume Sirois, Representative of the Russian Canadian Democratic Alliance

9) Mark Power, Representative of the Russian Canadian Democratic Alliance; and

Alexandra Chyczij, President of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress

That the committee report its findings to the House; and that, pursuant to Standing Order 109, the government table a comprehensive response to the report.

Chair, this was submitted to the clerk, but it hasn't been 48 hours, so I wonder if I could have unanimous consent to deal with this now.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Do we have unanimous consent to deal with this motion at this time?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Very well, go ahead.

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

Thank you, Chair.

I'd like to speak to the motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I'm thinking that we have unanimous consent to move the motion. So moved.

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

I will move the motion then, Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Okay, go ahead.

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

No, that's fine, Chair.

I'm sorry; I'm just checking my time.