CHPC Committee Meeting
Notices of Meeting include information about the subject matter to be examined by the committee and date, time and place of the meeting, as well as a list of any witnesses scheduled to appear. The Evidence is the edited and revised transcript of what is said before a committee. The Minutes of Proceedings are the official record of the business conducted by the committee at a sitting.
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Minutes of Proceedings
It was agreed, — That the committee proceed to sit in public.
At 8:31 a.m., the sitting was suspended.
At 8:44 a.m., the sitting resumed in public.
Rachael Thomas moved, — Given that,
- Hamas has been a declared terrorist organization by the Government of Canada since 2002, and
- The horrific Hamas terrorist attack against Israel left thousands of innocent people dead and injured, and
- That an email directive sent from the Director of Journalistic Standards of CBC News, Mr. George Achi, to all employees of CBC News, directed them to downplay coverage of the horrific, sadistic, violence perpetrated by Hamas against innocent people in Israel by not referring to the attackers as terrorists, and to falsely claim that Gaza continued to be under occupation after Israel had pulled out in 2005,
- The CBC receives $1.4 billion in public funding through taxpayer dollars annually, and that this committee has a mandate to review Government expenditures,
The Committee:
- Denounce Mr. Achi’s comments and report this to the House
- Summon the President of the CBC, Catherine Tait to appear for 2 hours by herself within seven days of the motion being adopted,
- Summon the CBC Director of Journalistic Standards, George Achi to appear for 2 hours by himself within seven days of the motion being adopted,
- Invite the CBC ombudsman Mr. Jack Nagler, to appear for a minimum of 2 hours to address the CBC’s position on Journalistic Standards and Practices.
Debate arose thereon.
Peter Julian moved, — That the motion be amended by replacing the third bullet point with the following “That both the European union and U.S. lawmakers have raised concerns about false and misleading content about the Israel-Hamas conflict being spread on Meta platforms.”; by adding after the words “public funding” the following “and that Meta and Google receive over $1 billion in indirect subsidies”; by deleting subparagraphs (a) and (b); by adding after the words “The committee:” the following “a) That the committee subpoena Rachel Curran, head of public policy, Meta Canada, to come before the committee”; and by replacing subparagraphs (c) and (d) with the paragraph “b) invite the CBC Director of Journalistic Standards, George Achi and the CBC ombudsman Jack Nagler to address the CBC’s position on Journalistic Standards and Practices.”.
Debate arose thereon.
At 9:20 a.m., the sitting was suspended.
At 10:02 a.m., the sitting resumed.
At 10:03 a.m., the sitting was suspended.
At 11:03 a.m., on Tuesday, October 24, 2023, the sitting resumed.
A point of order was raised as to the procedural acceptability of the proposed motion.
RULING BY THE CHAIR
The Chair ruled the amendment admissible as it expands on the notion of journalistic standards and practices outlined in the motion.
Whereupon, Rachael Thomas appealed the decision of the Chair.
The question: "Shall the decision of the Chair be sustained?" was put and the decision was sustained on the following recorded division:
YEAS: Michael Coteau, Anju Dhillon, Anna Gainey, Lisa Hepfner, Peter Julian, Taleeb Noormohamed — 6;
NAYS: Marilyn Gladu, Martin Shields, Rachael Thomas, Kevin Waugh — 4.
Accordingly, the Chair’s decision was sustained.
The debate on the amendment continued
Kevin Waugh moved, — That the amendment be amended by deleting the words “on Meta platforms”; by adding after the words “and that Meta and Google” the following: “and other media platforms”; by replacing the word “subpoena” with the word “invite”; by adding after the words “before the committee” the following: “and summon the President of the CBC, Catherine Tait to appear for 2 hours by herself within seven days of the motion being adopted”; and by adding after the words “Jack Nagler” the following: “to appear separately for a minimum of an hour and a half each”.
Debate arose thereon.
At 11:40 a.m., the sitting was suspended.
At 11:57 a.m., the sitting resumed.
At 1:01 p.m., the committee adjourned to the call of the Chair.