Evidence of meeting #88 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was contract.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
We cannot force a vote. It's a request.
Colleagues, can we move to it?
Go ahead, Mr. Sousa.
5:40 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
I'd like to move an amendment to the motion. I'd like to read it.
5:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Do you have it in writing so you can forward it to the clerk as well?
5:40 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
I can maybe have someone submit it. I can read it. I would like to read it so you guys can understand what we're saying.
5:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Just don't read it very fast because the clerk has to type as we go.
5:40 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
All right.
I move that following paragraph (e), after the words “provided that” the following be added, “when these documents are received by the clerk”, which then creates a new paragraph (f):
They be available at the clerk's office for viewing by committee members only, for one week to be designated by the committee no later than 30 days following the receipt of the contracts, under the supervision of the clerk and that no personal mobile, electronic or recording devices of any kind be permitted in the room that week; and that no notes be taken out of the room.
This then creates a new paragraph (g), which reads as follows:
Representatives of Innovation, Science and Economic Development be invited to appear for a two hour in camera meeting and that during the meeting, only committee members and support staff required for the meeting be permitted to attend and that no personal mobile, electronic or recording devices of any kind be permitted in the room during the meeting; that, during the meeting, numbered paper copies of the documents be given to committee members who are present in person by the clerk at the beginning of said meeting and that these copies be returned to the clerk at the end of the meeting and that the clerk be instructed to destroy said copies; and that no notes be taken out of the room.
Then, what is now paragraph (g) would become paragraph (h) and read as follows, “that redacted versions of” be added before “these documents” so that it reads as follows:
that redacted versions of these documents shall be deposited with the Clerk of the Committee
Then change “one week” to “three weeks” and have the words “without redactions and be published on the committee's website” deleted. To clarify, it would then read as follows:
(h) that redacted versions of these documents shall be deposited with the Clerk of the Committee within three weeks, in both official languages.
5:45 p.m.
Conservative
5:45 p.m.
Liberal
Charles Sousa Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
I'll make sure that someone has it forwarded to the clerk, yes.
5:45 p.m.
Conservative
Garnett Genuis Conservative Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan, AB
Thank you, Chair.
It's evident that the Liberals first of all do not want this motion considered at all, which is why they repeatedly voted against resuming consideration of it. Secondly, they're intent on carving it up every which way possible.
The intention of this motion is that the public, the taxpayer, the people whose sweat-soaked loonies are going into these big corporate subsidies, can actually know about the contract. Mr. Sousa's proposal that the public not know about these contracts and not have an opportunity to know anything about them, and that a small number of members of Parliament go into a locked room without their phones and look at them and can't tell anybody about what they see, does not satisfy our expectation of sunlight and transparency.
The proposal that he has put forward is designed to undercut the entire objective of the motion, which is a reasonable level of public accountability and scrutiny. On that basis, Conservatives and, I suspect, all other parliamentarians on this side of the House will obviously oppose the pro-secrecy, anti-transparency agenda of Mr. Sousa and his colleagues.
5:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly McCauley
Thank you.
With that, we are out of resources, colleagues, so I am going to adjourn.
I'm adjourning.