Public Safety Committee on May 10th, 2023

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Go ahead, Mr. Martel.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Mr. Chair, I suggest we suspend the meeting until we receive the motion in French. I think it would be easier and clearer for us. That’s what we requested.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I understand. This presents me with a bit of a dilemma, because strictly speaking, amendments do not have to be moved orally in both languages. They may be made orally and translated.

It would obviously be easier for everyone if we did have the translation, but we don't have access to translation services at this time.

Mr. Martel.

[Richard Martel, Conservative, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

I don’t know how things work here, but in other committees I’ve served on, when we asked for a French version, we waited and then it was provided. Perhaps things are done differently here.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Mr. Motz, do you have a point of order here?

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

Yes, thank you.

I want to go back to the little quip that Mr. Julian made trying to point at the Conservatives that this amendment was.... He set up as his preamble that, if everybody had done their homework six months—

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Let's not go back to that quip.

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

Hold on.

The point is that, if the Liberals had a subamendment to this particular clause, then it could have been done in French. It's the same. If he wants to play that game, then everybody else can play the same game.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

The rules of how committees are conducted do not require motions moved in one language to be available in both.

Ms. Damoff, go ahead on this point of order.

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

I would just suggest—and I am being mindful and respectful of my colleague, who would like to have it in French—that I think we can stand this clause until we get translation for the words we have. Stand clause 15 and then come back to it.

I want to make sure that this clause doesn't get lost in the bill, but could we stand that and come back to it once we have translation?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I think that is possible, and we could stand this clause.

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

Does it impact any others moving forward?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

We will come back to it, which is the point.

What do we need to do to stand a clause? Do we have to have unanimous consent?

[Philippe Méla, Legislative Clerk]

[Inaudible—Editor]

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Do we have unanimous consent to stand this clause? We'll come back to it when the translation is available.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Can I just make a quick point?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Yes.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Thank you very much.

We don't want to hold this up. I do believe it is a serious issue to have this in the translation. To show that we are serious about that, the Conservatives would support unanimous consent in order to move forward to make sure we have the French, especially on a day when we're discussing Bill C-13 in the House. The Conservatives believe deeply that we are a bilingual country, and we must respect that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Go ahead, Mr. Julian.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I agree with Mr. Motz. I wasn't targeting anybody individually. I think he is absolutely right to point out that, since the amendment has been out for six months, a subamendment should have been translated.

I would like to raise another point.

It is not up to any particular member around this table to ask that a document be provided to us in French. The right to bilingualism belongs to everyone. No one can say that this member is demanding a document in French. It is a requirement that arises from the fact that we are in a bilingual country.

I would just like to make it clear that the issue of the amendment being given to us in both official languages affects us all. It’s not any one member that is causing us to be slowed down by this. It is everyone’s responsibility to present the material in both official languages.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Mr. Julian, you're quite correct about documents; however, motions moved orally do not have to be, but I think the problem is solved this time around. Our clerk has advised that he has a translation from the department, and we will suspend until that can be distributed to the committee.

Thank you, all.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I call this meeting back to order.

It is my understanding that the subamendment has been shared with all the members in both languages.

That being the case, Madam Michaud, you would like to speak to this subamendment.

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

Thank you, Chair.

First, I’d like to thank the entire technical team, including the clerks and the people who helped translate this subamendment. I am grateful to them.

I wanted to thank the entire team that is supporting us tonight. I wanted to do it at the beginning of the meeting, but unfortunately I haven’t spoken much since the beginning. We’ve already had the staff, interpreters, analysts, legislative clerks, and technicians with us for a little over four hours, and they’ll be here for nearly another four hours. As I said yesterday, it’s a pleasure for members to be here, but there’s a whole team behind this, so I want to take this opportunity to thank them.

I am pleased to see that the subamendment has been translated and distributed in both official languages. I also welcome Ms. Damoff’s subamendment. It’s important to respect Quebec and the provinces’ jurisdiction, and to respect their right to consult. That’s what this subamendment adds to the very reasonable amendment proposed by the NDP, which is to add a definition of the term “protection order” in Bill C‑21. The Bloc Québécois will therefore vote in favour of this subamendment.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you, Ms. Michaud.

Mr. Motz, we are debating the subamendment.

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

For clarity on that, Mr. Chair, do the rules of the programming motion mean now the subamendment has a new “five and 20” per party, or does it form part of the original amendment that the five minutes become part of?