Veterans Affairs Committee on Dec. 14th, 2021

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

That's a very important question. I appreciate your bringing it up.

I think, for me, it would be a basic briefing. I recognize that I've been on the committee for a while, but there are many members who are new to the committee. I think it would be good for us to have a bit of a briefing and an update on what's happening. Of course, I believe all members in this place really want to make sure that we're serving veterans well, so it's an opportunity for us to ask some good questions of the minister.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you.

Darrell, do you have nothing to add? Okay. Perfect.

The clerk is a little concerned by that motion too. Do you know how we are going to do this? Are we going to send an invitation to the minister for the next meeting or...?

Because of the way Ms. Blaney introduced her motion, we do not have a copy of it. I have just consulted with the clerk and from what he has told me, the subcommittee will be established first. Then the subcommittee will prepare that meeting and come back to us with suggestions for the duration and the questions for the minister.

If we had a proper motion, the committee could then decide to vote on it.

Ms. Blaney, you have the floor.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Thank you so much, Chair, and thank you for your patience as we try to figure out the process and procedure.

My understanding—and I wait to hear from you—is that, if the committee has consensus and they agree that they would like to invite the minister, then we don't need an official motion. Hopefully, that's where we're at. If you do need an official motion, please tell me, and I will make something up in my head really quickly and you can all watch that with a great amount of entertainment.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

We are in complete agreement, Ms Blaney. If the members of the committee are in agreement, we can do that. We could establish the number of meetings and the duration. It could be, for example, a two-hour meeting. As you said earlier, we would ask the minister to provide an update and briefing on the situation.

If the members of the committee agree, we can give instructions to the clerk so that we can proceed.

Ms. Blaney has the floor and Mr. Desilets will follow.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Yes, of course.

My recommendation—perhaps “motion” is the better way to say it—is that we invite the minister to come to the first sitting we have when we return to Parliament, or as soon as possible, and have a general briefing with him and his cohort of folks who follow him and do so much great work for him. Maybe what we can recommend as well is that the minister come for the first hour and his folks stay for the second hour.

That would be my recommendation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you so much.

Is there any discussion?

I have Mr. Desilets.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Mr. Chair, I find this a little tricky, especially in terms of fairness.

Motions were distributed a little earlier. I agree that these are simply notices of motions, and I have no objection to that. However, a motion is introduced on the spot for us to vote on, and I find that a bit tricky.

Similarly, a motion should be introduced to follow up on the strategy for commemorations and the study on service dogs for veterans. It doesn't say that we all agree. We may not all be on the same page. Will we continue the study? Do we call for a report? Do we move on?

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Desilets.

You are saying that we have to find a way to prioritize the studies we want to conduct and the meetings we want to have. You are talking about the two studies that were undertaken. There is Ms. Blaney's motion, and you also introduced a notice of motion.

So you are not prepared to have the minister at the next meeting.

We can discuss that. I would be interested in hearing the views of the other members of the committee on Ms. Blaney's motion to invite the minister to meet with us at the next meeting.

Mr. Caputo, you have the floor.

[Frank Caputo, Conservative, Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC]

Thank you, Chair. Congratulations, as well, on being the head of the committee.

I'm happy to endorse Ms. Blaney's motion to have the minister appear at the first meeting back, when we reconvene in early February.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you, Mr. Caputo.

Go ahead, Monsieur Desilets.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Despite what I said, I completely agree with this motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Okay.

[Luc Desilets, Bloc, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

I don't want to drag things out. You'll get to know me, I'm usually quite fast. I wouldn't want us to proceed in the same way for both studies. I would like us to have a motion so that we can have a discussion and express ourselves clearly on the topic.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Okay, thank you.

Does anyone else wish to comment?

Mr. Miao, you have the floor.

[Wilson Miao, Liberal, Richmond Centre, BC]

We're also endorsing Ms. Blaney's motion to have the minister join us.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you.

I think we have consensus, so I'm going to ask the clerk to take the necessary steps to invite the minister for the first hour, and his staff for the second hour of the next meeting.

We said that the subcommittee will take care of all of those notices of motions in order to say what our next study will be. Do we agree on that? Great.

Right now, I would like to know if there is any other business to discuss at committee.

Go ahead, Mr. Rogers.

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

Mr. Chair, I just want to raise the issue of the timing of our committee meetings, particularly on Friday afternoon. A lot of people sitting at this table travel across the country, me included. If these meetings stay in Friday afternoon slots, it will eliminate any weekend travel back to Newfoundland and Labrador for me. I would just be in an aircraft all day Saturday and Sunday, and I'd get nothing done.

I don't know if it's possible.... There could be a different timeslot from Monday to Thursday that we could use. I suggest we explore that.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Thank you very much, Mr. Rogers. I can tell you that I endorse your endorsement. We have to discuss that with our whips, in order to see if we can have a room and if we can change to any other day during the week. That would be great, instead of meeting on a Friday afternoon.

I can ask, because the parties are there. I will ask Mr. Desilets, Ms. Blaney and Mr. Caputo to discuss that with their whips. I'm going to discuss it with my whip, too. Maybe Darrell Samson can do it. We will let you know....

[An hon. member]

[Inaudible—Editor]

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

I'm sorry. I should ask if you agreed to the proposal.

[Rachel Blaney, NDP, North Island—Powell River, BC]

No, I am the whip for the NDP. I was making a joke about it. I apologize.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

Okay. Thank you.

Mr. Casey's hand is raised. Go ahead, Mr. Casey.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

If there's no one else on the speakers list, Mr. Chair, I move that we adjourn.

[The Chair, Liberal, Emmanuel Dubourg]

All right. I have no choice.

The meeting is adjourned.