Evidence of meeting #79 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 complaint.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Thank you.
Mr. Chair, what Mr. Genuis is doing is highly inappropriate. He's not being relevant, and he's attacking the chair. I think that does a profound disservice to parliamentary democracy.
You certainly have, I think, the support of the vast majority of members of the committee to bring him to order.
Liberal
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
May I raise a point of order, Chair?
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Thank you, Chair.
Ms. O'Connell was permitted to speak at great length on matters that were clearly not matters of order. You've allowed other members to address things that are unrelated to the amendment on the table, but then when I and other Conservative members seek to respond simply in line with matters that were just raised, you immediately cut that off or call that a lack of decorum or something.
I've dealt with lots of chairs who are elected Liberal members of Parliament. I have encouraged them—as I'll encourage you—to aspire to impartiality in the context of their role in the committee, and to seek to enforce the rules.
That's my point of order. I'm happy to return now to my substantive remarks, and that was simply to say that I do have some specific questions that I want to bring to our witnesses with respect to the amendment. I do want to say that Conservative insistence on having three meetings to address the issue of the Bernardo transfer was very reasonable and very well supported, and I'm glad we achieved that result.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
Mr. Genuis, come to order.
The Bernardo meetings—the number of meetings we had to discuss that—are not on the table right now. We're discussing NDP-34. Please stick to that.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Chair, as I said, I was seeking to respond in a perfunctory way to comments that were made by Mr. Julian. I think that was reasonable.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
Mr. Genuis, you had a chance to respond to those remarks by Mr. Julian.
Please carry on with NDP-34.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Mr. Chair, I don't understand the basis on which you're saying I had that chance when I did not and was constantly interrupted.
Liberal
Peter Schiefke Liberal Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It doesn't look like we're going to be getting back to the business of the bill that we're supposed to be addressing today. We have 22 minutes left before we all have to depart for question period.
I would ask that the guests we have appearing before us—the witnesses—be let go, because 20 minutes spent here is 20 minutes they are not serving Canadians. I would simply ask that they be let go so they can pursue all of their important work.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
Thank you, Mr. Schiefke.
Is it the will of the committee to invite the witnesses to—
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Can I raise a point of order on that, Chair?
Conservative
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Wetaskiwin, AB
I have a point of order.
There's an important point to make here. If we release the witnesses, there's no point in our having the meeting, so we might as well adjourn the meeting. The meeting is to hear from the witnesses. What is the rest of the meeting if we—
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
I'm game to adjourn the meeting. There's no point in dismissing the witnesses and not adjourning the meeting if we're continuing to discuss the clause—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
It really depends on what you want to discuss.
Ms. Michaud, go ahead on a point of order.
Bloc
Kristina Michaud Bloc Avignon—La Mitis—Matane—Matapédia, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
If my Conservative colleagues want the officials to stay, perhaps they could ask them questions on NDP‑34 instead of raising points of order.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ron McKinnon
It boils down to the will of the committee.
Do we want to carry on and ask questions of the witnesses?