Veterans Affairs Committee on June 17th, 2025

[Shaun Chen, Liberal, Scarborough North, ON]

On orders of reference from the House respecting bills, I move:

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.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Congratulations on your French. Thank you.

We'll now proceed to the next motion.

Go ahead, Ms. Hirtle.

[Alana Hirtle, Liberal, Cumberland—Colchester, NS]

On technical tests for witnesses, I move:

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.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

We'll move on to the next one.

Go ahead, Madame Auguste.

[Tatiana Auguste, Liberal, Terrebonne, QC]

Concerning whips' access to digital binders, I move:

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.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Go ahead, Mr. Chen.

[Shaun Chen, Liberal, Scarborough North, ON]

On maintenance of order and decorum, I move:

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.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Good. Thank you.

I know these are little housekeeping things, but they're important. They will set us and our agenda going forward.

Does the committee wish to discuss any further committee business?

Go ahead, Mr. Richards.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Airdrie—Cochrane, AB]

Having had a chance to discuss a couple of motions with most of the members of the committee, there were a couple of members who mentioned to me....

I have two motions. One is related to the Persian Gulf War study, and the other one is related to the “Reforming Transition from Military to Civilian Life” report from the last Parliament. I was under the impression that neither of them had received a government response. Some members seem to believe that the transition to civilian life report had received a government response.

Can our analyst or clerk confirm that for us?

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Good question. We'll check.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Airdrie—Cochrane, AB]

While you do that, I could move another one? We're certain that's the case.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Yes. I think we agree on the Gulf War one.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Airdrie—Cochrane, AB]

I move that, given the committee members, staff, the clerk, analysts and witnesses worked hard to produce the report entitled “The Persian Gulf War Was a War” during the first session of the 44th Parliament, and given that the government did not table a response because of the prorogation of Parliament, the committee deem that it has undertaken and completed a study on “The Persian Gulf War was a War” pursuant to Standing Order 108, and that it adopt that report as a report from this committee; pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee request the government to table a comprehensive response to the report; supplementary or dissenting reports that accompanied the report in the previous session of Parliament should be tabled with the main report; and the chair present the report to the House.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Go ahead, Mr. Casey.

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

I'd like to propose an amendment to the motion. The motion suggests that the reason for its not being tabled was that the government prorogued Parliament. I'm not convinced that is the case, given the lengthy filibuster that tied up the House in the last few months.

As opposed to trying to point fingers about whose fault it was that it wasn't tabled, I would simply ask that the reference to prorogation be deleted. We'd then be happy to support the motion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Is there any more debate on this?

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Airdrie—Cochrane, AB]

We'll consider that a friendly amendment. I believe that was the reason, but I'm not fussing over it. Let's consider it a friendly amendment. I'm fine with it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you very much, Mr. Richards.

I just want to make sure that we can share.... I think we have to share it in both official languages to each member, or is it okay?

We're going to be sharing this motion, and don't forget that we have a friendly amendment. Is everybody in agreement? Mr. Richards said yes, but I need the consensus of all members to do the friendly amendment.

(Amendment agreed to)

That's excellent. We will be sharing the original.

I do have the answer. Indeed, it was not.

Go ahead, Mr. Richards.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Airdrie—Cochrane, AB]

Okay. I would move the following. It would be a very similar motion:

That, given the committee members, staff, the clerk, analysts, and witnesses worked hard to produce the report entitled “Reforming Transition from Military to Civilian Life” during the first session of the 44th Parliament, and given that the government did not table a response, the committee deem that it has undertaken and completed a study on “Reforming Transition from Military to Civilian Life” pursuant to Standing Order 108, and that it adopt that report from this committee; pursuant to Standing Order 109, the committee request the government to table a comprehensive response to the report; supplementary or dissenting reports that accompanied the report in the previous session of Parliament be tabled with the main report; and the Chair present the report to the House.

It's in the same form as the other one. I did remove the portion that was not acceptable to the government members.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Is there any discussion? Perfect.

(Motion agreed to)

Thank you very much, Mr. Richards.

I'm not sure about you, but I would like to know if it's the pleasure of the committee to adjourn this meeting.

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Marie-France Lalonde]

Thank you.