Status of Women Committee on Dec. 14th, 2021

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Stephanie Bond]

Honourable members of the committee, I see a quorum.

I must inform members that the clerk of the committee can only receive motions for the election of the chair. The clerk cannot receive other types of motions and cannot entertain points of order or participate in debate.

We can now proceed to the election of the Chair.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the Chair must be a member of the official opposition party.

I am ready to receive motions for the position of Chair.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Madam Clerk, since the former Chair of the committee did a good job, I would like to nominate Mrs. Vecchio for the position of Chair.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Mr. Serré that Ms. Vecchio be elected as chair of the committee. Are there any further motions? Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Clerk]

I declare the motion carried and Ms. Vecchio duly elected as chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

I would like to begin by saying welcome and thank you, everybody, for having the confidence in me in this 44th Parliament to lead you in the status of women committee. I am truly excited when I look at the faces around this table and recognize the diversity of opinions and the diversity of where we are from and what we can all bring to the table in such important discussions when we're talking about women and gender equality, so thank you, thank you, and thank you to all.

Stephanie, I don't believe you'll be here with us all of the time. I'm going to start. Does anyone know if we are supposed to introduce them, or is that in the motions?

[The Clerk]

It's in the motions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Well, these are our friends. Dominique and Clare will also be working with us throughout the entire Parliament. I do believe that we have Stephanie for only one day, so let's make her work hard.

We're going to continue today's meeting with the election of vice-chairs. If the committee is in agreement, I invite the clerk to proceed with the election of the vice-chairs.

[The Clerk]

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the first vice-chair must be a member of the government party.

I am now prepared to receive motions for the first vice-chair.

Go ahead, Madame Lambropoulos.

[Emmanuella Lambropoulos, Liberal, Saint-Laurent, QC]

I would like to nominate Sonia Sidhu as vice-chair.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Madame Lambropoulos that Ms. Sidhu be elected as first vice-chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

I declare the motion carried and Ms. Sidhu duly elected as the first vice-chair.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the second vice-chair must be a member of an opposition party other than the official opposition party.

I am now prepared to receive motions for the second vice-chair.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Madam Clerk, I would like to nominate our colleague Andréanne Larouche for the position of second vice-chair.

[The Clerk]

Mr. Serré is nominating Ms. Andréanne Larouche for the position of second vice-chair.

Are there any further motions?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

I declare the motion carried and Madame Larouche duly elected second vice-chair of the committee.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Welcome to meeting one of the House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women.

They always make these lovely notes for me, but I usually do go off script. I'll start where I always start and say congratulations to the newly elected vice-chairs. I really look forward to working with both of you when we sit on subcommittee.

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 by using the Zoom application.

Regarding the speaking list, the committee clerk and I will do the best we can to maintain a consolidated order of speaking for all members, whether participating virtually or in person. As noted, everybody is in person for this meeting today.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind all participants to this meeting that the taking of screenshots or photos of your screen is not permitted. The proceedings will be made available via the House of Commons website.

Given the ongoing pandemic situation and in light of the recommendations from public health authorities as well as the directive of the Board of Internal Economy on October 19, 2021, to remain healthy and safe, the following are recommended for all of these meetings when attending in person: Anyone with symptoms should participate by Zoom and not attend the meeting in person; everyone must maintain two-metre physical distancing, whether seated or standing; everyone must wear a non-medical mask when they are circulating in the room.

It is recommended in the strongest possible terms that members wear their masks at all times, including when they are seated. Non-medical masks, which provide better clarity over cloth masks, are available in the room.

Everyone present must maintain proper hand hygiene by using the hand sanitizer at the room entrance. Committee rooms are cleaned before and after each meeting; to maintain this, everyone is encouraged to clean surfaces such as the desk, chair and microphone with the provided disinfectant wipes when vacating or taking their seat.

As the chair, I will be enforcing these measures for the duration of the meeting. I thank members in advance for their co-operation.

For everybody knowing that I'm a meanie-bo-beanie, you'd better keep your masks on, okay? I will remind all of the members' assistants as well, just to ensure that we are all on the same page.

I would now like to suggest that as the next order of business, the committee proceed to considering our routine motions. In preparation for this, the committee clerk has circulated a list of routine motions that the committee adopted in the last parliamentary session. The committee clerk can also answer any questions you may have about the routine motions.

Would you like to continue with the routine motions today? I'm looking at the time, recognizing that today is a very important day, with the fiscal update at 4 o'clock.

Does everybody have the same thought, that we should get this work done?

Okay. Let's get to business.

We need someone to move the motions.

Go ahead, Marc.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair. Do I read one paragraph at a time and then we vote, or do I read the whole page? What's the best process?

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

We have a choice. We can go through them one at a time or do them as a whole. I do need agreement on which way we want to go. It would have to be unanimous.

Would we like to go in order or do them as a block?

Go ahead, Leah.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Madam Chair, I'm okay with it, but there are a couple of motions I would like to propose amendments to.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Fantastic.

[Leah Gazan, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Marc, we will go one by one. Please start.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I move as follows:

That the committee retain, as needed and at the discretion of the Chair, the services of one or more analysts from the Library of Parliament to assist it in its work.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Is everyone in agreement?

(Motion agreed to)

Next.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

For the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure, I move:

That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be established and be composed of five (5) members, the Chair, one member from each recognized party; and that the subcommittee work in a spirit of collaboration.

[The Chair, Conservative, Karen Vecchio]

Are there any questions or comments?

(Motion agreed to)

Go ahead, Mr. Serré.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

It reads:

That the Chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive evidence and to have that evidence published when a quorum is not present, provided that at least four (4) members are present, including two members of the opposition parties and two members of the government party, but when travelling outside the Parliamentary Precinct, that the meeting begin after 15 minutes, regardless of members present.