Motion

On Thursday, October 8, 2020, Pierre Poilievre moved, - That the Chair be instructed to present the following report to the House forthwith, provided that dissenting or supplementary opinions, pursuant to Standing Order 108(1)(b), shall be filed with the clerk of the committee within 24 hours of adoption of this motion.

The Standing Committee on Finance, pursuant to Standing Order 108(1)(a), has agreed to report the following.

Standing Order 108(2) empowers your Committee “to study and report on all matters relating to the mandate, management and operation of the department or departments of government which are assigned” to it, among other things.

Additionally, on May 26, 2020, the House adopted an order of reference permitting your Committee to meet virtually to consider matters “related to the COVID-19 pandemic and other matters” and empowering it, “in relation to [its] study of matters related to the COVID-19 pandemic”, to “receive evidence which may otherwise exceed the [committee’s] mandate under Standing Order 108”.

On July 7, 2020, your Committee met virtually and adopted the following motion: “That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(1)(a), the Committee order that any contracts concluded with We Charity and Me to We, all briefing notes, memos and emails, including the contribution agreement between the government and the organization, from senior officials prepared for or sent to any Minister regarding the design and creation of the Canada Student Service Grant, as well as any written correspondence and records of other correspondence with We Charity and Me to We from March 2020 be provided to the Committee no later than August 8, 2020; that matters of Cabinet confidence and national security be excluded from the request; and that any redactions necessary, including to protect the privacy of Canadian citizens and permanent residents whose names and personal information may be included in the documents, as well as public servants who have been providing assistance on this matter, be made by the Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel of the House of Commons.”

On or about August 8, 2020, several deputy heads of government departments provided the Clerk of your Committee with documents in response to the order for document production. These documents were, in accordance with the order, referred to the Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel for review and redaction.

On August 18, 2020, the documents were released to the members of your Committee. The Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel also wrote to the Clerk of your Committee stating, in part:

the letters and documents indicate that the departments had also made redactions to protect personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act, to protect third party information and information on the vulnerability of their computer or communication systems, or methods employed to protect their systems. These latter grounds for exemption from disclosure are contained in the Access to Information Act.

Upon reception of the documents on August 9, 2020, you provided them to my Office so that we could make the necessary redactions to protect the privacy of Canadian citizens and permanent residents, as well as public servants as contemplated by the production order. However, as mentioned above, the documents had already been redacted by the departments to protect personal information and on other grounds. As my Office has not been given the opportunity to see the unredacted documents, we are not able to confirm whether those redactions are consistent with the order of the Committee....

As mentioned above, the departments made certain redactions to the documents on grounds that were not contemplated in the order of the Committee. We note that the House’s and its committees’ power to order the production of records is absolute and unfettered as it constitutes a constitutional parliamentary privilege that supersedes statutory obligations, such as the exemptions found in the Access to Information Act. The House and its committees are the appropriate authority to determine whether any reasons for withholding the documents should be accepted or not.

Parliament was prorogued on August 18, 2020, preventing your Committee from meeting to consider the documents and the government’s disregard of the July 7, 2020, order.

A question of privilege was raised in the House early in the new Session of Parliament concerning this matter. In his October 1, 2020, ruling, the Speaker stated:

As of today, it is not possible to know whether the committee is satisfied with these documents as provided to it. The new session is now under way. The committee, which has control over the interpretation of its order, has an opportunity to examine the documents and decide what to do with them....

Given these facts and circumstances, it is my view that this is a matter for the committee to consider. If it believes that its privileges have been breached or has any other concern with respect to the situation, it can report to the House.

At its October 8, 2020, organizational meeting, your Committee considered the government’s response to the July 7, 2020, order.

Your Committee has concluded that the government’s response failed to comply with the order, and, accordingly, wishes to draw the attention of the House to what appears to be a breach of its privileges by the government’s refusal to provide documents in the manner ordered by the Committee.

Your Committee, therefore, recommends that an Order of the House do issue for the unredacted version of all documents produced by the government in response to the July 7, 2020, order of the Standing Committee on Finance, provided that these documents shall be laid upon the Table within one sitting day of the adoption of this Order.

Amendment

On Thursday, October 15, 2020, Pat Kelly moved the following amendment, - That the motion be amended by adding, after the words "within 24 hours of adoption of this motion", the following - “That the evidence heard and papers received by the Committee during its study on "Government Spending, WE and the Canada Student Service Grant" during the First Session of the 43rd Parliament be taken into consideration by the Committee during the current Session, and accordingly.”

Subamendment

On Thursday, October 15, 2020, Mark Gerretsen moved the following subamendment, - That the amendment be amended by adding after the words "current session" the following: "That the committee requests the complete package of documents provided to the Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel of the House of Commons by relevant Deputy Ministers or the signatories of the transmittal letters, as well as the final package of documents that the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel of the House of Commons approved for release, that both of the document packages be provided to the Committee no later than October 19, 2020, and that after the committee reviews the two different versions of documents, the committee invite each of the relevant Deputy Ministers or the signatories of the transmittal letters, as well as the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel of the House of Commons, to give testimony regarding the redactions applied to the documents that were requested and granted in the motion adopted on July 7, 2020, and that until such a time as this testimony is complete, debate on the main motion and amendment from Pierre Poilievre be suspended and that the Chair be authorized to schedule these witnesses, and convene a meeting to resume debate on Pierre Poilievre’s motion once these meetings have taken place.”

The committee resumed consideration of the subamendment, moved by Mark Gerretsen.

RULING BY THE CHAIR

The Chair ruled the subamendment moved by Peter Julian out of order on the basis that only one amendment and one subamendment may be considered by a committee at one time.

The committee resumed consideration of the subamendment moved by Mark Gerretsen.

At 6:00 p.m., the sitting was suspended.

On Tuesday, November 17, 2020, at 4:02 p.m., the sitting resumed.

Pierre Poilievre moved, — That the committee temporarily set aside the motion relating to the point of privilege put forward by the Member for Carleton on October 8, 2020, and the subsequent subamendments moved by the Member for Calgary Rocky Ridge and the Member for Kingston and the Islands, and that the committee adopt all evidence heard in the First Session of the 43rd Parliament during the committee’s study on "Government Spending, WE and the Canada Student Service Grant"; and that the committee order that by November 20, 2020, the government provide the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel with all documents originally requested in the July 7, 2020 motion moved by the Member for New Westminster-Burnaby, without any redaction, omission or exclusion except as would be justified in sections and subsections 69(1) through 69(3)(b)(ii) of the Access to Information Act, and that the Clerk of the Privy Council and the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner appear no later than November 25, 2020 to discuss "cabinet confidence" exclusions to public disclosures, and that the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel testify before the committee regarding documents received from the government pursuant to this motion.

RULING BY THE CHAIR

The Chair ruled the subamendment moved by Pierre Poilievre out of order on the basis that only one amendment and one subamendment may be considered by a committee at one time.

The committee resumed consideration of the subamendment, moved by Mark Gerretsen.

At 6:00 p.m., on Tuesday, November 17, 2020, the sitting was suspended.

At 3:30 p.m., on Thursday, November 19, 2020, the sitting resumed.

At 3:46 p.m., the sitting was suspended.

At 4:00 p.m., the sitting resumed.

By unanimous consent, Sean Fraser moved, — That the committee temporarily set aside the motion relating to the point of privilege put forward by the Member for Carleton on October 8, 2020, and the subsequent subamendments moved by the Member for Calgary Rocky Ridge and the Member for Kingston and the Islands, and that the Committee adopt all evidence heard in the First Session of the 43rd Parliament during the committee’s study on "Government Spending, WE and the Canada Student Service Grant"; and that the committee order that by November 24, 2020, the Government provide the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel with all documents as originally requested in the July 7, 2020 motion moved by the Member for New Westminster-Burnaby, including all documents the government provided the Law Clerk in August, without any redaction, omission or exclusion except as was justified originally in sections and subsections 69(1) through 69(3)(b)(ii) of the Access to Information Act, that the information remain in the Office of the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel and be used exclusively by him to determine the government’s compliance or non-compliance with the July 7, 2020 motion, and that the Clerk of the Privy Council and the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner appear no later than November 25, 2020 to discuss "cabinet confidence" exclusions to public disclosures, and that the Law Clerk testify before the committee regarding documents received from the government pursuant to this motion to provide his views on the government’s compliance with the July 7, 2020 motion.

The question was put on the motion and it was agreed to on the following recorded division:

YEAS: Julie Dzerowicz, Ted Falk, Sean Fraser, Mark Gerretsen, Tamara Jansen, Peter Julian, Pat Kelly, Annie Koutrakis, Pierre Poilievre, Scott Simms, Gabriel Ste-Marie — 11;

NAYS: — 0.

Julie Dzerowicz moved, — That, pursuant to its mandate under Standing Order 83.1, the Standing Committee on Finance begins the Pre-Budget Consultations 2021 on Thursday, November 26, 2020, and that

1. the Deputy Prime Minister and departmental officials appear before the committee;
2. the evidence and documentation received by the committee during the first session of the 43rd Parliament on pre-budget consultations be taken into consideration by the committee in the current session;
3. the committee allow witnesses to change their testimony if they feel so obliged based on the rapidly evolving situation around COVID-19;
4. the evidence and documentation received by the committee during the First Session of the 43rd Parliament on the government’s response to COVID-19 pandemic be included in the committee’s study of the pre-budget consultations;
5. each party submit a preliminary witness list no later than 6:00 p.m., on Monday November 23, 2020; and
6. each party submit a final witness list no later than 6:00 p.m., on Wednesday, November 25, 2020.

The question was put on the motion and it was agreed to on the following recorded division:

YEAS: Julie Dzerowicz, Ted Falk, Peter Fragiskatos, Sean Fraser, Tamara Jansen, Peter Julian, Pat Kelly, Annie Koutrakis, Pierre Poilievre, Scott Simms, Gabriel Ste-Marie — 11;

NAYS: — 0.

It was agreed, — That the committee invite the Governor and Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada to appear before the committee on Thursday, November 26, 2020, to discuss the report of the Bank of Canada on Monetary Policy.