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House of Commons Emblem

Subcommittee on Private Members' Business of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs

NUMBER 011 
l
1st SESSION 
l
42nd PARLIAMENT 

EVIDENCE

Monday, November 6, 2017

[Recorded by Electronic Apparatus]

  (0910)  

[English]

The Chair (Ms. Filomena Tassi (Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, Lib.)):
     I call this 11th meeting of the Subcommittee on Private Members' Business of the Standing Committee of Procedure and House Affairs to order.
    Welcome, Madam Brosseau.
    In the agenda, we have 15 items that have been brought forward. I thought the way we would proceed is that I would turn it over to the analyst, David, and he will make comments, and then we'll see where we go from there.
    Is that satisfactory to everybody?
    Some hon. members: Agreed.
    The Chair: Okay, David.
    The issue is that the government recently tabled Bill C-64, An act respecting wrecks, abandoned, dilapidated or hazardous vessels and salvage operations, which is also about wrecks and abandoned vessels.
    Bill C-352 involves creating regulations on wreck removal and developing this national strategy. Bill C-64 is much more comprehensive. It also involves the creation of regulations on wreck removal, and it deals with the issue of wreck removal generally.
    The rule in this committee is that bills and motions must not concern questions currently on the Order Paper and Notice Paper as items of government business. The question in both bills is dilapidated boats, abandoned vessels, and wrecks.
The Chair:
    Do we have any discussion on this?
Mr. David de Burgh Graham (Laurentides—Labelle, Lib.):
    Before we get to that, can we agree to approve all the rest of the bills? Is there any problem with that?
The Chair:
    Do we want to go in that order first?
Mr. David de Burgh Graham:
    That gets them out of the way, and then we can deal with this one.
The Chair:
    Is that okay?
    Some hon. members: Agreed.
    The Chair: We'll say that save and except for Bill C-352, the subcommittee will present a reporting list of the remaining items, which it has determined should not be designated non-votable, and recommend that they be considered by the House, exempting Bill C-352.
    (Motion agreed to)
    Does anyone wish to make comments?
Mr. David de Burgh Graham:
    Is Ms. Malcolmson aware of the issue? Have you had a chance to talk to her?
Ms. Ruth Ellen Brosseau (Berthier—Maskinongé, NDP):
    Absolutely, she is aware of the issue. As soon as this was announced, she was hoping to get as much information as possible, because this is an issue she's worked on for a long time, with Anne Minh-Thu Quach.
    I'm just wondering about a technical question, because I'm not usually on this committee. If there's a private member's bill that's tabled before government legislation, that doesn't make a difference in why it's an issue, right?
    Okay.
    As far as I understand the bill that was tabled by Sheila, it's a new bill, and the bill that the government has tabled is changing a bunch of bills. Is that...?
Mr. David Groves:
    They both make amendments to the Canada Shipping Act.
    I believe the government bill is making a new bill, but it's also amending the Canada Shipping Act. My understanding is that the core of the issue, regardless of which one comes first, is whether they address the same question and whether they approach it in a similar way. The issue for both is the abandonment of boats.

  (0915)  

The Chair:
    Is there any other discussion?
Mr. David de Burgh Graham:
    I was going to ask if Ms. Malcolmson is ready to proceed with one of the other bills she has on notice.
Ms. Ruth Ellen Brosseau:
     No, she is not. She was hoping to roll out her bill. She has a whole campaign raring to go behind it. It was a big issue for her and for some other MPs across Canada.
Mr. David de Burgh Graham:
    I understand. Be that as it may, the rules are fairly clear. I wonder if we can have agreement that this one is not votable at this time.
    Blake, I don't know where you stand on it.
Mr. Blake Richards (Banff—Airdrie, CPC):
    Yes, I would certainly accept the advice of the analyst on that and I would agree.
The Chair:
    Ms. Brosseau...David, you're of the same opinion, to accept the...?
Mr. David de Burgh Graham:
    Yes, I'll follow the analyst's knowledge that regardless of how it got there, it's not votable under the rules.
The Chair:
    Essentially that would be the decision of this committee, and then this committee would refer that decision to PROC.
    Are we in agreement, then, that a motion now be put forward that Bill C-352 be designated as a non-votable item?
Ms. Ruth Ellen Brosseau:
    Could we have a recorded vote?
The Chair:
    Yes.
    All those in favour of declaring that Bill C-352 be designated as a non-votable item? The clerk will go through the names and you can record your vote.
    (Motion agreed to: yeas 2; nays 1)
    The Chair: That's carried. Now the protocol is that this goes to PROC.
    The second motion is that the chair report the subcommittee's findings to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs as soon as possible.
    Are we in agreement with that?
    (Motion agreed to)
The Chair:
     That's it. Have a great day. The meeting is adjourned.
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