AMAD 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
On motion of Marie-Françoise Mégie, it was agreed, — That Yonah Martin be elected the Joint Chair of the committee for the Senate.
Yonah Martin took the Joint Chair.
On motion of Pierre J. Dalphond, it was agreed, — That Marie-Françoise Mégie be elected Vice-Chair of the committee for the Senate.
On motion of James Maloney, it was agreed, — That Hedy Fry be elected Joint Chair of the committee for the House of Commons.
Hedy Fry took the Joint Chair.
On motion of Rob Moore, it was agreed, — That Kerry-Lynne D. Findlay be elected First Vice-Chair of the committee for the House of Commons.
On motion of René Arseneault, it was agreed, — That Luc Thériault be elected Second Vice-Chair of the committee for the House of Commons.
On motion of Arif Virani, it was agreed, — That Alistair MacGregor be elected Third Vice-Chair of the committee for the House of Commons.
STATEMENT BY THE CHAIR
The joint chairs each made a statement.
On motion of Arif Virani, it was agreed, — That the committee retain, as needed and at the discretion of the joint Chairs, the services of one or more analysts from the Library of Parliament to assist it in its work.
On motion of Arif Virani, it was agreed, — That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be composed of the joint chairs, the deputy chair and the vice-chairs; and that the subcommittee work in a spirit of collaboration.
Stanley Paul Kutcher moved, — That the motion be amended to include an additional member from the Senate to the subcommittee.
After debate, the question was put on the motion, as amended, and it was agreed to.
Pamela Wallin moved, — That Stanley Paul Kutcher be added as a member of the subcommittee from the Senate.
The question was put on the motion, as amended, and it was agreed to.
Annie Koutrakis moved, — That the motion be amended to include an additional member from the House of Commons to the subcommittee; and,
That Arif Virani be added as a member of the subcommittee from the House of Commons.
After debate, the question was put on the motion, as amended, and it was agreed to.
On motion of René Arseneault, it was agreed, — That the subcommittee be empowered to make decisions on behalf of the committee with respect to its agenda, to invite witnesses, and to schedule hearings.
On motion of Kerry-Lynne D. Findlay, it was agreed, — That the subcommittee report its decisions to the committee.
On motion of Pamela Wallin, it was agreed, — That the joint chairs be empowered to direct communications officer(s) assigned to the committee in the development of communications plans and products where appropriate and to request the services of the Senate Communications Directorate and of the House of Commons Social Media Team for the purposes of the promotion of their work.
Hedy Fry moved, — That witnesses appearing before the committee be given seven minutes to make their opening statement and that the order of questions for the first round of questioning shall be as follows: five minutes House of Commons Liberal, five minutes House of Commons Conservative, five minutes House of Commons Bloc Québécois (BQ), five minutes House of Commons New Democratic Party (NDP), five minutes Independent Senators Group (Senate ISG), five minutes Senate Conservative, five minutes Canadian Senators Group (Senate CSG) and five minutes Progressive Senate Group (Senate PSG), alternating between the last two Senate groups from meeting to meeting. Questioning during the second round shall be as follows: four minutes House of Commons Liberal, four minutes House of Commons Conservative, two and half minutes House of Commons BQ, two and half minutes House of Commons NDP, four minutes Senate ISG, four minutes Senate Conservative, two and half minutes Senate PSG and two and half minutes Senate CSG, alternating between the last two Senate groups from meeting to meeting.
Pierre J. Dalphond moved, — That the motion be amended to allot each recognized party and group from the Senate the same amount of time for questioning.
After debate, the question was put on the motion, as amended, and it was agreed to.
After debate, it was agreed that the senators report back to the committee on the distribution of their allotted time.
On motion of Pamela Wallin, seconded by Arif Virani, it was agreed, — That the joint clerks of the committee be authorized to distribute to the members of the committee only documents that are available in both official languages; and that witnesses be advised accordingly.
On motion of Kerry-Lynne D. Findlay, it was agreed, — That the joint clerks of the committee be authorized to make the necessary arrangements to provide snacks and beverages for the committee and its subcommittees.
On motion of Pamela Wallin, it was agreed, — That either joint chair or, in accordance with the direction of the joint chairs, either joint clerk be authorized to approve payment of expenditures of the committee.
On motion of Pierre J. Dalphond, it was agreed, — That, if requested, reasonable travel, accommodation and living expenses including child care and/or personal attendant care or the cost of an approved headset be reimbursed to witnesses upon application, not exceeding two representatives per organization; and that, in exceptional circumstances, payment for more representatives be made at the discretion of the joint chairs.
On motion of Marie-Françoise Mégie, it was agreed, — That, unless otherwise ordered, each committee member be allowed to be accompanied by one staff person at an in camera meetings and that one additional person from each House officer’s office be allowed to be present and for the Senate, that the leader or facilitator of the Government and each recognized party or parliamentary group be entitled to one additional staff member at these meetings.
On motion of Stanley Paul Kutcher, it was agreed, — That one copy of the transcript of each in camera meeting be kept with the joint clerks for consultation by members of the committee or by their staff.
On motion of Kerry-Lynne D. Findlay, it was agreed, — That the committee publish its proceedings in both official languages.
On motion of René Arseneault, it was agreed, — That 48 hours’ notice 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
(a) the notice be filed with the joint clerks of the committee no later than 4:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday; that
(b) the motion be distributed to members in both official languages by the joint clerks on the same day the said notice was transmitted if it was received no later than the deadline hour; and, that
(c) notices received after the deadline hour or on non-business days be deemed to have been received during the next business day.
Luc Thériault moved, — That all documents submitted for Committee business that do not come from a federal department or that have not been translated by the Translation Bureau be sent for prior linguistic review by the Translation Bureau before being distributed to members.
Kerry-Lynne D. Findlay moved, — That the motion be amended by adding the words “, a member’s office,” after “federal department”.
After debate, the question was put on the motion, as amended, and it was agreed to.
On motion of Luc Thériault, it was agreed, — 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 advises the committee, at the start of each meeting, of any witness who did not perform the required technical tests.
Stanley Paul Kutcher moved, — That each committee member receives 48-hours in advance from each witness their speaking notes submitted in both official languages.
René Arseneault moved, — That the motion be amended by adding the words “when possible” after “languages”.
After debate, the question was put on the motion, as amended, and it was agreed to.
On motion of Pamela Wallin, it was agreed, — That the committee meet every Monday, except for May 24, 2021, until June 23, 2021 inclusively, when the respective houses adjourn for the summer.
It was agreed, — That an interim budget of $50,000 be adopted and sent to the Board of Internal Economy of the House of Commons.
At 7:40 p.m., the committee adjourned to the call of the Joint Chairs.