Evidence of meeting #1 for Status of Women in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Vanessa Preston Committee Researcher
Good afternoon.
I'm Vanessa Preston. I was with FEWO in the last sitting, and I also work on other committees in the House.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
All right. We have an analyst.
The second one is on the subcommittee. It reads:
That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be established and be composed of four members, the Chair and one member from each recognized party, as designated by each party's whip; and that the subcommittee work in a spirit of collaboration.
Is there any discussion?
(Motion agreed to)
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
The next one is on meeting without a quorum. 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 members are present, including two members of the opposition parties and two members of the government party.
Is there any discussion?
(Motion agreed to)
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
Next, we have travel. It reads:
That, when travelling outside the Parliamentary Precinct: (a) the meeting begin after 15 minutes, regardless of whether quorum is present; (b) no substantive motion may be moved during such meetings.
Is there any discussion?
(Motion agreed to)
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
The next motion is on the time for opening remarks and questioning of witnesses. This is the standard round. Do I need to read it into the minutes? It says:
That witnesses be given five (5) minutes for their opening statements; that whenever possible, witnesses provide the committee with their opening statements 72 hours in advance; that, at the discretion of the Chair, during the questioning of witnesses, there be allocated six (6) minutes for the first questioner of each party as follows:
First Round:
Conservative Party
Liberal Party
Bloc Québécois
For the second and subsequent rounds, the order and time for questioning be as follows:
Conservative Party, five (5) minutes
Liberal Party, five (5) minutes
Bloc Québécois, two and a half (2.5) minutes
Conservative Party, five (5) minutes
Liberal Party, five (5) minutes
Is there any discussion on this motion?
(Motion agreed to)
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
All right. The next motion is on document distribution. It reads:
That only the clerk of the committee be authorized to distribute documents to members of the committee and only when the documents are in both official languages; and that all documents submitted to the committee in both official languages that do not come from a federal department or members' offices, or that have not been translated by the Translation Bureau, be sent for linguistic review by the Translation Bureau before being distributed to members, and that the witnesses be advised accordingly.
Is there any discussion on this?
(Motion agreed to)
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
The next motion is on working meals. This is terrifically important. It reads:
That the clerk of the committee, at the discretion of the Chair, be authorized to make the necessary arrangements to provide working meals for the committee and its subcommittees.
Is there any discussion on this, and are there any recommendations of your favourites?
Tamara, go ahead.
Conservative
Tamara Kronis Conservative Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
I'm sorry. I just have a question about whether or not dietary restrictions will be solicited and accommodated.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
That's a great question. Absolutely, we will. For example, in the past, we have provided gluten-free meals, vegan meals and vegetarian meals. As long as the clerk knows your preferences, that's good. My preference is lasagna with caesar salad, and I really like the red pepper soup.
Is there any discussion?
(Motion agreed to)
The next motion is on travel, accommodation and living expenses of witnesses. It says:
That, if requested, reasonable travel, accommodation and living expenses be reimbursed to witnesses, not exceeding two representatives per organization; and that in exceptional circumstances, payment for more representatives be made at the discretion of the Chair.
Is there any discussion?
(Motion agreed to)
The next is on access to in camera meetings. For those who are new, “in camera” really means that you're not in the public realm. It's opposite of what you'd expect. It says:
That, unless otherwise ordered, each committee member be allowed to be accompanied by one staff member at in camera meetings and that one additional person from each House officer's office be allowed to be present.
That, during in camera meetings, committee members may be informed by the committee Chair of the MPs who have been designated as substitutes for permanent members, in order to know which MPs are authorized to speak and vote during these committee meetings. That only those who have been recognized and identified as such be authorized to speak, in keeping with the usual agreed rules of order and decorum.
Is there any discussion?
(Motion agreed to)
You guys are so easy to get along with. You're doing great work already.
This next one is a motion on technical tests for witnesses. It is that the clerk inform each witness who is to appear before the committee that the House administration support team must conduct technical tests to check the connectivity and the equipment used to ensure the best possible sound quality; and that the chair advise the committee, at the start of each meeting, and any witness who did not perform the required technical tests—
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
Did we do this one?
The next is on the transcript of in camera meetings. It reads:
That one copy of the transcript of each in camera meeting be securely retained by the committee clerk for consultation by members of the committee or by their staff; and that the analysts assigned to the committee have access to the in camera transcripts.
Is there any discussion?
(Motion agreed to)
Now we have the notice of motion. This is very important. It reads:
That a 48-hour notice, interpreted as two nights, be required for any substantive motion to be moved in committee, unless the substantive motion relates directly to business then under consideration, provided that:
(a) the notice be filed with the clerk of the committee no later than 4:00 p.m. from Monday to Thursday, and no later than 2:30 p.m. on Friday;
(b) the motion be distributed to members and the offices of the whips of each recognized party in both official languages by the clerk on the same day the said notice was transmitted if it was received no later than the deadline hour;
(c) notices received after the deadline hour or on non-business days be deemed to have been received during the next business day.
Is there any discussion?
(Motion agreed to)
The next motion is on orders of reference from the House respecting bills. It reads:
That, in relation to orders of reference from the House respecting bills:
(a) the clerk of the committee shall, upon the committee receiving such an order of reference, write to each member who is not a member of a caucus represented on the committee to invite those members to file with the clerk of the committee, in both official languages, any amendments to the bill, which is the subject of the said order, which they would suggest that the committee consider;
(b) suggested amendments filed, pursuant to paragraph (a), at least 48 hours prior to the start of clause-by-clause consideration of the bill to which the amendments relate shall be deemed to be proposed during the said consideration, provided that the committee may, by motion, vary this deadline in respect of a given bill; and
(c) during the clause-by-clause consideration of a bill, the Chair shall allow a member who filed suggested amendments, pursuant to paragraph (a), an opportunity to make brief representations in support of them.
Is there discussion?
(Motion agreed to)
Now we move to administrative support and technical tests for witnesses. It reads:
That the clerk inform each witness who is to appear before the committee that the House Administration support team must conduct technical tests to check the connectivity and the equipment used to ensure the best possible sound quality; and that the Chair advise the committee, at the start of each meeting, of any witness who did not perform the required technical tests.
Is there discussion?
(Motion agreed to)
On whips' access to the digital binders, the motion says:
That the clerk of the committee be authorized to grant access to the committee's digital binder to the offices of the whips of each recognized party.
Is there discussion?
(Motion agreed to)
On the maintenance of order and decorum, it reads:
That, during meetings, the Chair, if necessary, use his or her prerogative to suspend the meeting to maintain the order and decorum necessary to ensure the application of the House of Commons' policies on workplace health and safety.
Is there discussion?
(Motion agreed to)
All right, so those were the routine motions.
Before we adjourn the meeting, I was wondering whether we could get the analyst, since she was with status of women last time, to tell us about the last three studies that have not yet had a report.
Can you do that?
Committee Researcher
I'll give just a brief summary of the work that the committee conducted in the last sitting that was not completed. There were, in fact, four studies that were started but not completed. There was coercive behaviour, for which the committee provided drafting instructions to the analysts. There was breast cancer, the response to the task force of breast cancer for women over the age of 40 but under 50, for which the committee provided drafting instructions. There was a study on gender-based violence and femicides, which the committee also provided drafting instructions for. The final study that was started but not completed was on 2SLGBTQ violence, but the committee did not provide drafting instructions for that final study.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
Excellent. For those ones they did provide drafting instructions on, are the draft reports available, or are you intending to do those over the summer? What's the situation?
Committee Researcher
That would depend entirely on the will of the committee.
Liberal
Emmanuella Lambropoulos Liberal Saint-Laurent, QC
Actually, I have a motion ready for one of the studies that had drafting instructions given but was not completed.
I'll read it into the record:
That, given the crucial work that was done by members of the committee on gender-based violence, including hearing from 38 witnesses and receiving 29 briefs, and the committee’s inability to complete the report and table it due to the dissolution of the 44th Parliament, the committee order that, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2)(e), all witness testimony and briefs from the committee’s 44th Parliament study on gender-based violence and femicides against women, girls and gender diverse people be adopted for use in the 45th Parliament, and that the analysts be instructed to use this evidence, briefs, and drafting instructions from the previous members of the committee in drafting a report so that it may be tabled in the fall; and that, pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee request a comprehensive response from the government.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
That motion is in order.
Is there discussion?
Go ahead, Madame Larouche.
Bloc
Andréanne Larouche Bloc Shefford, QC
I would like us to adopt good habits. The interpreters said that they didn't receive the text of the motion beforehand, which would have made their work easier. I wanted to let you know. Those are my thoughts on the procedure.
In principle, I support the inclusion of these testimonies.
Conservative
Dominique Vien Conservative Bellechasse—Les Etchemins—Lévis, QC
Madam Chair, don't we have to wait 48 hours after a motion has been put forward before we can take it into consideration?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
No, not if it's the topic that we're discussing. It's what we were discussing, so it's in order.
Are there any other comments?
Go ahead, Emmanuella.
Liberal
Emmanuella Lambropoulos Liberal Saint-Laurent, QC
Considering that the language was brought up, I do have it in both official languages if the clerk would like to distribute it to all members of the committee.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
Give it to the translators as well. I think that would be a good idea.
Are there any other comments about this before we put it to a vote?
Go ahead, Madame Larouche.
Bloc