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Minutes of Proceedings

43rd Parliament, 1st Session
Meeting 1
Tuesday, February 18, 2020, 12:04 p.m. to 12:31 p.m.
Audio Only

House of Commons
• Aimée Belmore, Procedural Clerk
 
Library of Parliament
• Lyne Casavant, Analyst
• Julia Nicol, Analyst
Pursuant to Standing Order 106(1), the Committee met for the purpose of electing a Chair. Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the Clerk of the committee presided over the election of a Chair.

On motion of James Maloney, it was agreed, — That Iqra Khalid be elected Chair of the committee.

Iqra Khalid took the Chair.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the clerk of the committee presided over the election of vice-chairs.

On motion of Larry Maguire, it was agreed, — That the Hon. Rob Moore be elected First Vice-Chair of the committee.

On motion of Arif Virani, it was agreed, — That Rhéal Éloi Fortin be elected Second Vice-Chair of the committee.

The committee proceeded to the consideration of matters related to committee business.

On motion of James Maloney, it was agreed, — That the committee retain, as needed and at the discretion of the Chair, the services of one or more analysts from the Library of Parliament to assist it in its work.

On motion of James Maloney, it was agreed, — That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be established and be composed of five members, namely the Chair and one member from each recognized party; and that the subcommittee work in a spirit of collaboration.

Motion

James Maloney moved, — That the Chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive evidence and to have that evidence printed when a quorum is not present, provided that at least four members are present, including one member of the opposition and one member of the government; and that when travelling outside the Parliamentary Precinct, the meeting begin after 15 minutes, regardless of members present.

Debate arose thereon.

Amendment

Randall Garrison moved, — That the motion be amended by replacing the words “one member of the opposition and one member of the government” with the words “two members of the opposition and two members of the government”.

After debate, the question was put on the amendment of Randall Garrison and it was agreed to.

After debate, the question was put on the motion, as amended, and it was agreed to.

The motion, as amended, read as follows:

That the Chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive evidence and to have that evidence printed when a quorum is not present, provided that at least four members are present, including two members of the opposition and two members of the government; and that when travelling outside the Parliamentary Precinct, the meeting begin after 15 minutes, regardless of members present.

On motion of Arif Virani, it was agreed, — That witnesses be given 10 minutes for their opening statement; that, at the discretion of the Chair, during the questioning of witnesses, in the first round, there be allocated six minutes for the first questioner of each party as follows: Conservative Party, Liberal Party, Bloc Québécois, New Democratic Party. That for the second and subsequent rounds, the order and time for questioning be as follows: Conservative Party, five minutes, Liberal Party, five minutes, Conservative Party, five minutes, Liberal Party, five minutes, Bloc Québécois, two and a half minutes, New Democratic Party, two and a half minutes.

On motion of Arif Virani, it was agreed, — That only the clerk of the committee be authorized to distribute documents to members of the Committee and only when such documents exist in both official languages, and that witnesses be advised accordingly.

On motion of Arif Virani, it was agreed, — That the clerk of the committee be authorized to make the necessary arrangements to provide working meals for the Committee and its subcommittees.

On motion of Sameer Zuberi, it was agreed, — That, if requested, reasonable travel, accommodation and living expenses be reimbursed to witnesses not exceeding two representatives per organization; and that, in exceptional circumstances, payment for more representatives be made at the discretion of the Chair.

On motion of Sameer Zuberi, it was agreed, — That, unless otherwise ordered, each committee member be allowed to have one staff member at an in camera meeting and that one additional person from each House officer’s office be allowed to be present.

On motion of Mike Kelloway, it was agreed, — That one copy of the transcript of each in camera meeting be kept in the committee clerk’s office for consultation by members of the Committee or by their staff.

On motion of Ramesh Sangha, it was agreed, — That a 48 hours notice, interpreted as two nights, shall be required for any substantive motion to be considered by the committee, unless the substantive motion relates directly to business then under consideration, provided that (1) the notice be filed with the clerk of the committee no later than 4:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday, that (2) the motion be distributed to Members in both official languages by the clerk on the same day the said notice was transmitted if it was received no later than the deadline hour, and that (3) notices received after the deadline hour or on non-business days be deemed to have been received during the next business day; and that when the committee is travelling outside the Parliamentary Precinct, no substantive motions may be moved.

On motion of Arif Virani, it was agreed, — 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 of Parliament who is not a member of a caucus represented on the committee to invite those members of Parliament 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

Randall Garrison moved, — That any motion to go in camera should be debatable and amendable; that the committee may only meet in camera for the following purposes:

a) to discuss administrative matters of the committee;
b) a draft report;
c) briefings concerning national security;

and that, minutes of in camera meetings should reflect on the results of all votes taken by the committee while in camera, including how each member voted when a recorded vote is requested.

It was agreed, — That the debate be now adjourned.

At 12:31 p.m., the Committee adjourned to the call of the Chair.



Marc-Olivier Girard
Clerk of the Committee