Public Safety Committee on May 2nd, 2023

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I call the meeting to order.

Welcome, everyone, to meeting number 63 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security. We will start by acknowledging that we are meeting on the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin people.

Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the House order of November 25, 2021. Members are attending in person in the room and remotely using the Zoom application.

I will start with subcommittee business. The subcommittee met last week to consider business of the committee going forward and agreed to a number of items.

You will all see the copy by email of the fourth report of the subcommittee on agenda and procedure. Does the committee wish to adopt this report?

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

Mr. Chair, I have my hand up.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Yes, please, go ahead.

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

I apologize, Mr. Chair, but I'll likely have my hand up quite a bit today, so I'll just draw your attention to that.

Could you read out for the committee members the subcommittee report bullets, please? It's relatively short.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I'm sorry. I'll read it, absolutely.

Your Subcommittee met on Friday, April 28, 2023, to consider the business of the Committee and agreed to make the following recommendations:

1. That five meetings, including one meeting with the Minister of Public Safety, be dedicated to Bill C-20, An Act establishing the Public Complaints and Review Commission and amending certain Acts and statutory instruments.

2. That the members send their list of proposed witnesses for Bill C-20 to the clerk no later than Friday, May 12, 2023.

3. That the clerk takes the necessary steps to organize a total of four additional hours of committee meeting, to be held during the week of May 1st and/or, if needed, the following week, given the cancellation of the meetings on May 5 and May 19, 2023.

[That is] respectfully submitted [by your chair].

Do we have agreement to ratify the decision of the subcommittee?

Ms. Dancho, is your hand still up?

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

It's up again. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I just want to confirm that the subcommittee—just so I'm clear on the wording—is to bring in essentially two more two-hour meetings, or four hours total of additional committee time, because two Friday committee slots were eliminated. These aren't extra meetings per se. They're just making up for two meetings that were eliminated outside the control of this committee. Is that correct?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

That is my understanding as well.

In that vein, we do have approval for an extra hour today. We have a potential for two hours on Thursday and the potential for one hour next week, although all of that is a little blurry right now.

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

I would like to speak here, if I may.

If, as you outlined, that is done, then the obligation from the subcommittee is completed. The subcommittee report is not agreeing to any additional committee hours outside of what you've outlined, just to be clear.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

That is correct. The subcommittee agreed to four hours to be allocated either this week and next week or somehow in the two-week period.

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

Okay. This will be my last comment. I just want to underline in particular that we are supportive of making up for the time we are losing because of those two lost Fridays, but the Conservatives are not supportive of many additional hours to make up for the fact that we have been waiting six weeks to see the minister and to complete the consultations on the previously withdrawn amendment. Just to be clear, Conservatives are not supportive of any additional time over and beyond making up for those two Fridays, as it's not the committee's fault that the Liberal government took its time getting to the position where we are and the committee is not under an obligation to double up or triple up the time we are meeting and to move things along more quickly, as a result of the very long process that this has taken since November. It's not the fault of Conservative members, and we will not be speeding up this process in any way.

I just want to make that very clear.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you. I am so advised.

Is there any further intervention on this matter?

Go ahead, Mr. Motz.

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

Thank you, Chair.

Can you just clarify again the times for when you are thinking there might be some extra meetings?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

It would be this week and next week.

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

Do we have dates?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

We get an hour today. That would leave three further hours to be acquired when we're able to get them, and that requires the help of the whips and the House resources and so forth.

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

Did I hear the clerk suggest that the Thursday you were planning is out?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I had heard previously that we might be able to get two hours this coming Thursday, but apparently that's not the case.

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

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I await developments. We'll do the best we can to get those hours whenever we can get them. It's going to have to be tomorrow or Thursday or next week.

Go ahead, Mr. Shipley.

[Doug Shipley, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

I'm sorry. I'm not trying to drag this out either, but we all have plans. We have travel plans, work plans and other meetings. I'm hearing that we're not doing Thursday and then that we might be doing Thursday. That's only two days from now. Is there a possibility that we're doing Thursday or not?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Mr. Clerk, can you advise, please?

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Simon Larouche]

Our request for sitting on Thursday evening was denied by the services of the House of Commons.

[Doug Shipley, Conservative, Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte, ON]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

We didn't want Thursday evening anyway.

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

Is tomorrow likely impossible as well?