Public Safety Committee on Nov. 1st, 2023

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

I'm a little concerned that the amendment as presented applies to reservists, yet our RCMP colleagues are saying that, if we take it out, it will apply to reservists but you won't have to change the RCMP Act. Is what I understood correct? If we take out clause 95 and take out what is non-applicable to reservists, does that mean that reservists would be included in this bill, or is it going to be that they are completely removed and that there's no reference to them whatsoever?

[Kathleen Clarkin]

It's our interpretation that they could be included, so, if there was a complaint against a reservist, by interpreting who it applies to, the commission could receive that, if it chose to.

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

Is it applicable, then, or is it more appropriate to have an amendment that says that we're going to take out clause 95, as opposed to this amendment 60 from the NDP?

[Deidre Pollard-Bussey]

Our interpretation of the amendment as proposed under NDP-60 is that it's not just related to the PCRC Act but to the whole of the RCMP Act.

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

All right.

[Deidre Pollard-Bussey]

By changing that piece of the clause, we could fix that. The RCMP Act is outside of the scope of what we're trying to achieve with this amendment.

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

Okay, I understand that.

Do you, then, support the idea of having clause 95 removed from the act?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

I would caution that the officials aren't really here to give that kind of response.

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

That's fair enough.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Mr. Motz, are you done?

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

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Go ahead, Mr. Gaheer.

[Iqwinder Gaheer, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

We agree with the intent of this amendment to ensure that the conduct of reservists is reviewable under the PCRC. I was under the impression that removing clause 95 wholesale would, in fact.... Reservists would fall under the purview of the PCRC without having to amend the act. My impression was verified by the witnesses, so we will vote against this amendment and also against the clause itself, which will remove clause 95.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you.

Mr. Lloyd, you have the floor.

[Dane Lloyd, Conservative, Sturgeon River—Parkland, AB]

Are reservists covered under...? A lot of what we've been trying to do with this legislation is ensure that there's labour representation throughout this process, so are reservists covered by the union or by any labour protections, so that they can have advocates there for them during this process? I'm curious about that.

Thank you.

[Kathleen Clarkin]

Yes, reservists are represented by the National Police Federation, so they are members of that, and they do have them as an advocate.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Thank you.

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

Chair, I'm still confused. I'm sorry.

Mr. Gaheer, you don't support this amendment by the NDP—I don't, either—but, if I heard you correctly, you're suggesting to remove clause 95. I don't see that as a government amendment to the....

[Iqwinder Gaheer, Liberal, Mississauga—Malton, ON]

We'll vote against clause 95 when the vote comes to the clause.

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

Oh, I see what you're doing. Okay, that's fair enough.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

Are there any further interventions?

Shall NDP-60 carry?

(Amendment negatived: nays 9; yeas 2 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

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

Chair, can we have a very quick suspension for two minutes? We've been here over two hours.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

We could finish this clause and then take a couple of minutes. How would that be?

(Clause 95 negatived: nays 11; yeas 0)

I don't think there's a will to suspend at this time. We are getting so close; we have three or four pages. We could finish this in short order.

Shall clause 96 carry?

(Clause 96 agreed to on division)

That brings us to new clause 96.1—

Yes, go ahead, Mr. Motz.

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

Chair, I'd like to introduce a motion, please.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ron McKinnon]

What is it in respect of?