Evidence of meeting #20 for Status of Women in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was amendment.
A recording is available from Parliament.
2:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
I'm sorry. I was just happy about getting this through because it's so important.
Go ahead, Emmanuella.
2:35 p.m.
Liberal
Emmanuella Lambropoulos Liberal Saint-Laurent, QC
I'd like to move my motion that I brought at the last meeting. I'd like to read it once again and officially move it.
I move:
That the Standing Committee on the Status of Women report to the House that (a) access and availability to reproduction health services no matter where one lives in Canada, including safe and legal abortion, is a Charter right, and is ensured under the Canada Health Act, and (b) the decision to have an abortion made by women, transgender, and non-binary individuals for any reason, is their freedom of choice and theirs alone.
2:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Okay, fantastic. Is there any discussion from this?
Shelby, your hand is up.
2:40 p.m.
Conservative
Shelby Kramp-Neuman Conservative Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON
We've come so far and we're making so much progress with this current study, so I would move to adjourn debate on this particular motion, with conditions.
I'm suggesting that we could discuss the motion once Bill C-233 is completely done and reported back to the House and all is good, the intimate partner violence study has been completed, and all of the witnesses for the resource development and violence against women and girls study have been heard.
2:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Okay.
So I hear a lot of chatter on this, and I'm going to take the chair's prerogative once again. We can choose to actually discuss this or we can choose to use this as a political football, like I have seen for the last few months. I'm actually going to put my foot down on this one right now, because I'll be honest—a little upset. We have just come through an extraordinary study of Bill C-233, where we have proven that we can work together very, very well.
I'm going to let you guys know: This is not going to be coming up in the next three years. You're in a minority government with the support of the NDP. I fully respect that.
I know that people want to respond—I see your hand—but I'm just hoping that this committee can continue to do the excellent work that we want to do and that, instead of bringing in the politics, we actually worry about women in this committee.
I am...I understand that. But I really get annoyed when I think that people think they are more right on this one. I'm going to discuss this. We can carry this out. We have a decision, as the status of women committee, on whether we want to join in the politics of divisiveness that are being brought in or whether we want to actually do what's right for women.
We know what the vote's going to end up like today. Perhaps I can ask this committee if we can just go. I know how the resolution is going to be. I know what I'll be taking to the committee, and I know the votes are actually fine, but what happens when we take it to the House? Are we going to waste three and four hours of concurrence? Yup.
Is there perhaps a way of putting this through such that we have the vote today, I report it back to the House, and there is no concurrence motion, so that we don't waste four hours of debate in the House of Commons? And “waste” is not a time, but if you can tell me that abortions are going to end tomorrow in this country, or if you can tell me that in the next three years abortions are going to end in this country, then I will take this as not a political football. I will take this as the urgency for all Canadians. We need to make sure that there are different things....
Anita, I see you are getting angry. It's great that you've come here—
2:40 p.m.
Conservative
2:40 p.m.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
On a point of order, Chair, there was a dilatory motion put forward to adjourn debate. There's no debate on a motion to adjourn debate, so we should probably move to that.
2:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Okay. Not a problem.
Go ahead....
Yes. That's what I thought. It's because there are conditions. It is a dilatory motion with conditions, which is a debatable motion, just to let you know. But we can't have two debatable motions at the same time. The debatable motion is now on the adjournment with conditions.
Because we've gone from one, when we've gone from.... Something that currently is debatable has an end. She's asked for a dilatory motion with conditions, but the conditions put in there now become what we're also debating. If we adjourn with these conditions, the conditions are that Bill C-233 needs to be reported and intimate partner violence needs to be addressed and tabled. That's what's really important. Do we want to make sure that we're putting in the time on intimate partner violence and make sure that those studies get done? Or do we want to continue to debate this?
So the debate is on whether we adjourn with conditions.
Go ahead.
2:45 p.m.
Conservative
2:45 p.m.
Conservative
Shelby Kramp-Neuman Conservative Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON
Thank you, Chair.
I'm suggesting that we discuss this motion once Bill C-233 is reported back to the House, the intimate partner study has been completed, and all witnesses on the resource development and violence against women and girls study have been heard.
Thank you.
May 13th, 2022 / 2:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
The conditions are that we finish all the witness testimony on natural resources and the indigenous, which is all scheduled. We should be done that shortly. We will also be finishing Bill C-233, which we'll be tabling on Tuesday. We'll also be starting the draft on Tuesday of intimate partner violence. With that, we also have the estimates that come up. We also have the ministers next Friday.
I just want to make sure that everybody is aware of what the time frame is for this committee and that we are doing the work for the people who need the urgent assistance today, not something that comes in here that has absolutely no teeth to it. This is virtue signalling at its best.
Thank you very much.
Anita, go ahead. Then it will be back to Shelby and then Emmanuella.
2:45 p.m.
Liberal
Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
On the adjournment and on making sure that the good work of this committee continues, I am 100% for that. What I would like to say is that, to me, this should have been a very simple, very quick motion. To say that standing up for a woman's right over her own body is political or politicizing and that it would somehow take time out of this committee is very disappointing to me.
I have a family member who had to go in front five male doctors in the eighties to have them tell her that she could not have an abortion, and she almost committed suicide. She was part of the Morgentaler decision. This is a close family member of mine. I grew up knowing that this was something that she fought for; for me, for our generation and for future generations to have this right.
For anyone in this committee to say that this is politicizing, that a woman's right to choose—which is a hard-fought right—is somehow politicizing, I find that very offensive. It should have been that we could have gone to a vote instantly, maybe a few of us would have commented on it and then we would have all supported it. That's what should have happened today. It should have taken five minutes. Since it's not—
2:45 p.m.
Liberal
Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
Madam Chair, I have the floor.
I'm speaking to the motion to adjourn with the conditions. I will support the conditions, because I believe that we need to do good work in this committee, but I am very disappointed that this isn't something that this committee would have unanimously supported. We have had these rights as women for a generation, and I'm very offended that this is being considered.
This term “virtue signalling”.... I'm sorry, but if standing up for women's rights is virtue signalling, then, absolutely, I will do that every day.
I will support that motion, because I know we have a lot of good work in this committee, but I would like it to be on the record that this should not have been something that we're still debating. Worse yet, yesterday, we had members out on the lawn of Parliament. There were members of Parliament who were trying to take away women's rights to choose. I'm very disappointed and I wish that it wasn't the case that we still had to battle this in this day and age.
Thank you.
2:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Thank you very much.
I hope it's on the record that it was Karen Vecchio, the chair of the status of women committee, and not a member of the CPC or members of this committee. Those are my words, so I'm hoping that when you take that out, it says it was Karen Vecchio who said that, because it's very important to me that we all fight for all rights, absolutely. Anyone who knows me knows that's the case.
We're going to Andréanne and then Leah.
2:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
I'm sorry. I was looking in the room.
I'm going to go to Andréanne as well.
Welcome back to you, Emmanuella.
2:45 p.m.
Bloc
Andréanne Larouche Bloc Shefford, QC
I think that, precisely for the reasons you have given, Madam Chair, this is not a debate we can have in a few moments. I am in favour of the dilatory motion because I too had an amendment to propose to Ms. Lambropoulos' motion. So, in order for us to take the time to debate it properly, I am in favour of the dilatory motion, even though the subject is important. If we start debating the motion and the amendments, we will not manage. I think we had better take the time to finish what we have before us.
I would like to remind the committee that I will have an amendment to propose if we come back to this debate later.
2:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Karen Vecchio
Fantastic.
I'm going to go to Emmanuella and then back to Leah.