Evidence of meeting #9 for Status of Women in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was union.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5 p.m.
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
I will say it anyway.
The amendment is that the committee study maternal and infant health in all its aspects.
5 p.m.
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
You would be able to invite your Quebec civil society.
5 p.m.
Bloc
Nicole Demers Bloc Laval, QC
I would be pleased to, madam. But I was only thinking of two meetings. Were you thinking of more meetings than that?
5 p.m.
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Yes, I want us to study maternal and infant health in all its aspects.
5 p.m.
Bloc
5 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
I just want to point out to the committee that we had discussed it. Madam Demers had suggested two meetings only.
This committee is going to have to decide if we'll move into a full study--and I don't know how long it would take--while we already have a pending study, for travel, on violence against aboriginal women. I'm going to let the committee make the decision about what to do. If we accept a full study, we're then going to have to decide as a committee whether to postpone our pending study until we have finished the study on maternal health. If I recall correctly, the timeline was for the G8 in June, which means that we have to do this one before the study on aboriginal violence. I'm just telling the committee this so that as we discuss it you're fully aware of where we're going here.
Now, Madam Demers, you said you have no problem with the amendment.
Sylvie, do you want to tell me this quickly? How would your friendly amendment read?
5 p.m.
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
I am sorry. It would read as follows: “That the committee study maternal and infant health in all its aspects.”
5 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
This does not contain a timeline for the G8, Madam Demers. Are you happy with this?
5:05 p.m.
Bloc
Nicole Demers Bloc Laval, QC
No, I am not happy that there is no specific timeline. I wanted to be able to report to the government before June when we will be hosting the G8. That was the goal of the meeting. We also asked to meet with the ministers. That could be one meeting, but I do not see how we can do this in one or two meetings. It is impossible.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
I know.
Sylvie, if you bring this forward as it stands alone, it's a completely new motion. But if you add it as an amendment to the first part of Madam Demers' motion, it could read:
That the committee study maternal and infant health in all its aspects and make it a priority during the G8 meeting in June, which Canada will be hosting.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Okay: “in all its aspects”.
So what you're really doing is introducing a completely new motion. I'm sorry, but this is not a friendly amendment, Sylvie. This is a completely new motion.
5:05 p.m.
Bloc
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
So in many ways, if this is a completely new motion, I cannot entertain it until we have discussed the motion on the table.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
Madam Chair, at the moment, we are jumping from one language to the other. So let us begin in French and things will work better.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
The motion would read as follows:
That the committee study the maternal and infant health in all its aspects following the government's announcement to make its health strategy a priority at the G8 in June, which Canada will be hosting.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Yes. So let us discuss this.
You've said that it's a friendly amendment and Nicole had suggested that she would accept it.
Do you accept it now?
5:05 p.m.
Bloc
Nicole Demers Bloc Laval, QC
Madam Chair, I would be pleased to agree to this if I had some idea of the time required to do it. I want to make sure we do the study on violence we had decided to do. When I moved my two motions on maternal and infant health, they would have required no more than two meetings. Now a much broader motion is being put forward. I'm concerned by the fact that it would require more than two meetings because I do not know how we will be able to assess all aspects of maternal and infant health in two meetings.