Hansard Blues

Committee of the Whole –

Section A

Draft Report of Debates

The Honourable Raj Chouhan, Speaker

4th Session, 42nd Parliament

Thursday, November

30, 2023

Morning Sitting

Draft Transcript — Terms of Use

PROCEEDINGS IN THE

DOUGLAS FIR ROOM

Committee of the Whole House

BILL 45 — MISCELLANEOUS STATUES

AMENDMENT ACT (N O . 4), 2023

(continued)

The House in Committee of the Whole (Section

A) on Bill 45; H. Yao in the chair.

The committee met at 11:40 a.m.

On clause 1.

The Chair: Good morning, Members. I shall call Committee of the Whole on Bill 45, Miscellaneous

Statutes Amendment Act, 2023, to order.

Hon. N. Sharma: Before we begin, I'd just like to introduce and thank the team that's joining me here

today. We have Barbara Carmichael, Gabriel Hill, Meghan Will, Sarah Petrescu and Kat

Reilly.

M. de Jong: I am obliged, in beginning this discussion that we will continue today, to observe

that the conversation takes place now in the context of the government and the Government

House Leader having dictated when that debate must end. We are confronted by that

reality.

I say that because this chamber that we're occupying today sat empty yesterday and

would have allowed us to have a conversation over the course of, actually, eight hours,

and we'd likely be done. I won't speak for the Leader of the Third Party, but we would

likely be done and have had an opportunity to thoroughly review matters.

So here we are today. Proceedings started one minute ago and will adjourn in two minutes.

We lost four minutes, because we didn't have a quorum. In the usual course of events,

that wouldn't even be worth mentioning. In the context of this chamber having sat

empty for eight hours yesterday and in the context of having the government impose

closure today….

Interjections.

M. de Jong: And I see the government members are sensitive about that. Well, they should be.

Interjection.

The Chair: Excuse me, Member. Abbotsford West has the floor.

M. de Jong: Thanks, hon. Chair.

It's, I think, appropriate to, at the outset of these proceedings, simply place on

the record and make it clear the circumstances we are dealing with — circumstances

that didn't need to occur had the management of this assembly and this committee been

conducted in a more reasonable manner.

I don't know. I am going to say this. I think the Attorney General would have been

very happy to come in here yesterday. I don't detect any reluctance or reticence on

her part. She's been answering the questions as best she can. We don't always agree

with her. We have an argument. But I don't think she had any reticence whatsoever

to engage in the discussion, and I'm sure she won't today either.

The point is she didn't get the opportunity to do that, and we didn't get the opportunity

to ask the questions, because someone else decided it would be better for this chamber

to sit empty for eight hours yesterday when we could have had the conversation. The

government wouldn't have to impose closure, because we'd have been done.

I want to ask, obviously, about clause 1. I'm going to ask the question, but I think

the Attorney is going to be obliged now to stand up and adjourn the committee. So

I can do that or have the Attorney make the motion now, and we can come back and start

fresh.

[11:45 a.m.]

What I'm going to ask the Attorney, and I guess she'll pick it up after lunch, is

to begin by offering the committee her

interpretation — she is, on behalf of the government,

answering for the legislation — of how this clause is intended to work. What is the

obligation it imposes upon a community making an application that is governed by this

section, and how is that different from the situation that exists today?

Hon. N. Sharma: Thanks for the question, Member.

At this stage, I move that the committee rise, report progress and ask leave to sit

again, and I will answer after the break.

Motion approved.

The committee rose at 11:46 a.m.

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