Transport Committee on Feb. 21st, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you, Mr. Strahl.

Mr. Muys, the floor is yours.

[Dan Muys, Conservative, Flamborough—Glanbrook, ON]

Thank you.

To pick up on the comments by my colleague Mr. Strahl as well as the comments by Mr. Bachrach and Mr. Barsalou-Duval, certainly there are contradictions and questions that have arisen as a result of the Minister of Environment's comments. I think that there is a consensus that there is a need for the minister and other ministers to come and speak before this committee, so I would suggest a subamendment.

As Mr. Strahl has indicated, this is an urgent issue. That's why we're having an emergency meeting. Within 14 days is quite reasonable, given the fact that this has already festered for eight or nine days since the comments were made. We're already approaching the 30-day mark when you add that in.

Let me suggest a subamendment to Mr. Barsalou-Duval's amendment, that we change “30 days” to “14 days” and that we add “for one hour each separately”. The amendment is:

That the motion be amended (a) by replacing the words “within 30 days” with the words “within 14 days”; (b) by adding after the words “of this motion being adopted” the words “, for one hour each, separately”; and by adding after paragraph (c) the following paragraph: “And that the committee seek additional resources, if necessary, to accommodate these appearances.”

I'll propose that and turn over the floor.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you, Mr. Muys.

Mr. Barsalou-Duval, you have the floor.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I look forward to seeing what my colleagues think of it. I'm not necessarily closed to the subamendment proposed by Mr. Muys. We need to determine whether, in fact, in practice, it's something that's feasible. I'll listen carefully to my colleagues' comments.

My intention was mainly that we hold a meeting and invite the three ministers involved in the case, namely the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, who made the remarks in question, and the other two ministers whose departments are involved in funding road projects.

Of course, holding this meeting outside the committee's normal schedule would be a good idea, as we wouldn't be upsetting the committee's current work schedule.

So, I don't see any problem with holding the meeting within 14 days rather than 30 days. The question is mainly whether it's feasible, from a practical point of view. I don't know the ministers' schedules or the state of the House's resources, so I don't know what the dates would be. The urgency of the matter would still be emphasized if this meeting were held within 30 days, but it would be emphasized even more if it were held within 14 days. I'm open to that too.

As to whether the meeting would be two hours or three, I'm very open to discussion. I'm willing to work with whatever the consensus is among the members of this committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you, Mr. Barsalou-Duval.

I have no one left on the list. We can therefore put Mr. Muys' subamendment to the vote.

(Subamendment agreed to: yeas 6; nays 5 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

We will now go to the vote on the amendment, as amended, by Mr. Muys.

I'm seeing some confusion.

[Churence Rogers, Liberal, Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL]

That was confusing, Mr. Chair.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Yes, I thought we were actually voting on the main motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

We'll start over.

Can you reread the amendment as amended by Mr. Muys so that everybody knows what we're voting on, Madam Clerk?

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Carine Grand-Jean]

You are voting on the amendment as amended by Mr. Muys. The amendment is the one proposed by Mr. Barsalou-Duval. Instead of having “30 days”, you have “14 days”.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Are there any questions from the members joining us online?

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Chilliwack—Hope, BC]

Mr. Chair, I think there is a process, when a vote is called, to not stop it halfway through because some members are confused. You were very clear on what was happening. I realize that there might have been some confusion of members, but when this happens in the House or at committee, members are required to get unanimous consent to change their votes.

I would hate to get into a precedent here. I think that it likely is out of order to start a vote again halfway through. We, on our side, knew what we were voting on.

I just want to make it clear that it is highly irregular to stop a vote halfway through to allow members to start again.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

I agree, Mr. Strahl. I just received messages from people asking that we please read out what we were voting on, which I will take full responsibility for not doing. There was some confusion there, which is why I stopped it.

I've asked the clerk to read it out for everybody so that everybody's on the same page, including the person who proposed the amendment itself, to make sure that we know exactly what we're voting on. I want to make sure—

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Chilliwack—Hope, BC]

I'm not going to fight you on it, Mr. Chair. I just think it is highly irregular to stop a vote halfway through and start over, but go for it.

(Amendment as amended agreed to: yeas 7; nays 4 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Now we will go a vote on the motion as amended.

Please read the motion as amended.

[The Clerk]

The motion reads:

That the committee undertake a meeting on infrastructure in Canada, and invite the following witnesses to appear before the committee within 14 days of this motion being adopted...:

(a) The Minister of Environment and Climate Change;

(b) The Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities;

(c) The Minister of Transport....

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Chilliwack—Hope, BC]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

I believe Mr. Muys' subamendment made it clear that there was “one hour each, separately” for those ministers.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you, Mr. Strahl.

We're going to suspend for two minutes as the clerk compiles all of the information to make sure that she has everything 100%.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

I call this meeting back to order.

I'll now turn it over to the clerk to once again read the final motion as amended.

[The Clerk]

The amended motion reads as follows:

That the committee undertake a meeting on infrastructure in Canada, and invite the following witnesses to appear before the committee within 14 days of this motion being adopted, for one hour each, separately:

(a) The Minister of Environment and Climate Change;

(b) The Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities;

(c) The Minister of Transport;

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Chilliwack—Hope, BC]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

I believe the subamendment did talk about additional resources as well to ensure that this was able to happen outside the normal hours of sitting. I'm not sure if Mr. Muys needs to send that or if we can just add that right now, but that was part of the subamendment.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

I see the clerk nodding in agreement.

I'll turn it over to the clerk on this one.

[The Clerk]

Yes. A second part was added and adopted, as follows:

And that the committee seek additional resources, if necessary, to accommodate these appearances.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you, Madam Clerk.

Mr. Badawey, I see your hand up.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I have a quick question with respect to resources. This will now go outside our regular time slot. The House will be asked if the resources are available. What if they come back and say that resources are not available? Will we then proceed to have this jump the queue with respect to the studies that we currently have in the queue?

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Chilliwack—Hope, BC]

I think that's debate, Mr. Chair. We're in the voting stage.