On motion of Luc Berthold, it was agreed, — That Kelly Block be elected Chair of the committee.

Kelly Block took the Chair.

Maxime Blanchette-Joncas moved, — That Greg Fergus be elected First Vice-Chair of the committee.

By unanimous consent, the motion was withdrawn.

On motion of Kody Blois, it was agreed, — That Lloyd Longfield be elected First Vice-Chair of the committee.

On motion of Luc Berthold, it was agreed, — That Maxime Blanchette-Joncas be elected Second Vice-Chair of the committee.

On motion of Lloyd Longfield, 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 Lloyd Longfield, it was agreed, — That the Chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive and publish evidence when a quorum is not present, provided that at least four members are present, including two members from the opposition and two members from the government; and that in the case of previously scheduled meetings taking place outside of the Parliamentary Precinct, the committee members in attendance be required to wait for 15 minutes following the designated start of the meeting before they may proceed to hear witnesses and receive evidence, regardless of whether opposition or government members are present.

On motion of Lloyd Longfield, 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.

Lloyd Longfield moved, — That witnesses be given ten minutes for their opening statement; that, at the discretion of the Chair, during the questioning of witnesses, there be allocated six minutes for the first questioner of each party as follows:

Round 1:

Conservative Party
Liberal Party
Bloc Québécois
New Democratic Party;

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.

The motion, as amended, read as follows:

That witnesses be given five minutes for their opening statement; that whenever possible, witnesses provide the committee with their opening statements 72 hours in advance; that, at the discretion of the Chair, during the questioning of witnesses, there be allocated six minutes for the first questioner of each party as follows:

Round 1:

Conservative Party
Liberal Party
Bloc Québécois
New Democratic Party;

For the second and subsequent rounds, the order and time for questioning be as follows:

Conservative Party, five minutes
Liberal Party, five minutes
Bloc Québécois, two and a half minutes
New Democratic Party, two and a half minutes
Conservative Party, five minutes
Liberal Party, five minutes.

The motion, as amended, was agreed to.

On motion of Lloyd Longfield, it was agreed, — That the clerk of the committee be authorized to distribute documents to members of the committee only when the documents are available in both official languages and that witnesses be advised accordingly.

Lloyd Longfield moved, — That the clerk of the committee be authorized to make the necessary arrangements to provide working meals for the committee and its subcommittees.

The motion, as amended, read as follows:

That the clerk of the committee be authorized to make the necessary arrangements to provide working meals for the committee and its subcommittees provided that members have confirmed their physical presence for the meeting.

The motion, as amended, was agreed to.

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

Lloyd Longfield moved, — That, unless otherwise ordered, each committee member be allowed to have one staff person at an in camera meeting and that one additional person from each House officer's office be allowed to be present.

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

On motion of Lloyd Longfield, 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 Lloyd Longfield, 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 on official business, no substantive motions may be moved.

On motion of Lloyd Longfield, 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 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.

On motion of Lloyd Longfield, it was agreed, — That the committee Chair and staff be authorized to:

• review government responses to recommendations made by the committee during the 43rd Parliament;
• acknowledge by letter, on the committee’s behalf, receipt of government responses where they respond clearly and completely to recommendations or request further information or clarification, as required;
• monitor the implementation of government commitments made in response to committee recommendations, and request further information as required; and,
• report to the committee on these activities in a timely fashion.

On motion of Lloyd Longfield, it was agreed, — That all organizations that have been subject to a performance audit or a special examination by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada provide a detailed action plan to address the audit recommendations which have been agreed to - including specific actions, timelines for their completion and responsible individuals - to the committee and the Office of the Auditor General of Canada within six months of the audit being tabled in the House of Commons;

That organizations that are invited to appear before the committee to discuss the findings of an audit should provide an action plan to the committee no later than 48 hours prior to the hearing;

That action plans and progress reports received by the committee be published on the committee’s website.

On motion of Lloyd Longfield, it was agreed, — That the clerk of the committee be authorized to purchase an appropriate gift to be presented to visiting delegations, and that the Chair report it to the committee.

Matthew Green moved, — That the Committee re-invite past chairs of the committee, including Shawn Murphy, Kevin Sorenson, Dean Allison and David Christopherson, and invite the Canadian Audit and Accountability Foundation to provide an orientation briefing to members of the committee.

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

Luc Berthold moved, — That, pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), the Standing Committee on Public Accounts invite the Auditor General of Canada to testify at its meeting on Thursday, October 22, 2020, or on Thursday, October 29, 2020, to provide an update on the current audits and the expected deadlines for the publication of the next reports; that during this meeting, the first hour be in camera and that the second hour be public; and that the public portion be televised.

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