Evidence of meeting #3 for Public Safety and National Security in the 44th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was guns.

A video is available from Parliament.

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On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Clerk of the Committee  Mr. Wassim Bouanani
Brenda Lucki  Commissioner, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Commissioner Stephen White  Deputy Commissioner, Specialized Policing Services, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
John Ossowski  President, Canada Border Services Agency
Kellie Paquette  Director General, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Rob Stewart  Deputy Minister, Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

The Chair Liberal Jim Carr

Madame Michaud, go ahead.

As spoken

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Do we have a written copy of the amended motion?

I only had the first version and I have another version that may be proposed by the Conservatives. I just want to make sure that I understand what was mentioned, what has been removed and perhaps added.

Translated

Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON

Can I respond, Chair?

As spoken

The Chair Liberal Jim Carr

Ms. Damoff, go ahead.

As spoken

Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON

Madame Michaud, the third paragraph in my original motion, which begins with “That on June 21”, is how the motion begins. Then there's the wording that the Conservative Party proposed, where it said “so the amended motion would read”, and the remainder of the motion I proposed is that sentence exactly as it was proposed by the Conservative Party, so “that the committee instruct the chair”.

It's one paragraph from the original motion to give some context, and then the wording would be, “that the committee instruct the Chair to report the firearms regulations referred by the Minister of Public Safety on Monday, June 21, 2021 to the House unamended at the earliest opportunity.”

As spoken

The Chair Liberal Jim Carr

Is everybody clear about the motion that's before the committee?

As spoken

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

Mr. Chair, I have a another question, if I may.

Translated

The Chair Liberal Jim Carr

Yes, please, Madame Michaud, go ahead.

As spoken

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

Thank you for the clarification, Ms. Damoff.

I only have one question, on the term “unamended”, or non modifié. What does it mean? I was under the impression that you can't amend a regulation, so I wonder what that means in the motion.

Translated

The Chair Liberal Jim Carr

Ms. Damoff, go ahead.

As spoken

Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON

Thanks, Chair.

I think the word may be redundant, but in essence it's saying that the committee is taking those regulations as they were referred to us—important regulations around having a licence to purchase a firearm and also businesses recording the firearms that they're selling. The word “unamended” is probably redundant, but I don't think it hurts to have it in there.

As spoken

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

Thank you, Ms. Damoff.

Translated

The Chair Liberal Jim Carr

Members of the committee are clear. There has been notice given for this motion.

Is there any other commentary?

Ms. Dancho, go ahead.

As spoken

12:50 p.m.

Conservative

Raquel Dancho Conservative Kildonan—St. Paul, MB

Thank you very much.

I just want to extend my thanks to Ms. Damoff for neutralizing the language in this motion. We are happy to work together and to avoid personal attacks and charged language. We know that all members of this committee certainly value public safety, but we approach this issue of violence and firearms and how to solve it from very different perspectives.

I look forward to a very robust debate with my colleagues on that, but I appreciate that we are setting a tone and working together to amend this to have more neutral language so that we can move forward with that tone and ensure our discussions remain policy-oriented and professional in that regard. I will endeavour to uphold that, and committee members can hold me to that as well.

I just want to say thank you to members of the committee for agreeing to amend this so the language is more neutral.

As spoken

The Chair Liberal Jim Carr

Thank you.

That spirit of collaboration and co-operation is very much appreciated by all of us.

We have a motion. Due notice was given for that motion.

Is there unanimous consent?

As spoken

Some hon. members

No.

As spoken

The Chair Liberal Jim Carr

We will proceed with a recorded division.

(Motion agreed to: yeas 7; nays 4)

As spoken

The Chair Liberal Jim Carr

Thank you very much.

Is there other committee business? Mr. Clerk, is there a hand up?

As spoken

The Clerk

Yes. We have Mr. MacGregor, Mr. McKinnon and Mr. Noormohamed.

As spoken

Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC

Mr. Chair, I just had a very quick question for you. I just wanted to have your confirmation that you're going to be re-tabling the report on systemic racism in policing tomorrow during routine proceedings.

As spoken

The Chair Liberal Jim Carr

Yes, that's my intention.

As spoken

Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC

Thank you very much, Chair.

As spoken

The Chair Liberal Jim Carr

Mr. McKinnon, go ahead.

As spoken

Ron McKinnon Liberal Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC

Thank you, Chair.

I just wasn't sure I heard the results of the vote. I assume the motion passed.

As spoken

The Chair Liberal Jim Carr

I believe it passed seven to four: seven in favour and four opposed.

As spoken