The Senate
Motion to Resolve into Committee of the Whole to Consider the 2020-21 Main Estimates and Supplementary Estimates (A)--Debate
June 18, 2020
Pursuant to notice of June 17, 2020, moved:
That, notwithstanding any provisions of the Rules or usual practice:
1.the Senate resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole at the start of Orders of the Day on Monday, June 22, 2020, to consider the expenditures set out in the Main Estimates for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021, and in the Supplementary Estimates (A) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021;
2. the Committee of the Whole receive the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, P.C., M.P., President of the Treasury Board, accompanied by one official;
3.the Committee of the Whole rise no later than 125 minutes after it begins;
4.the witnesses’ introductory remarks last a maximum total of five minutes; and
5.if a senator does not use the entire period of 10 minutes for debate provided under rule 12-32(3)(d), including the responses of the witnesses, that senator may yield the balance of time to another senator.
She said: Honourable senators, I move the motion standing in my name.
Honourable senators, we are debating a motion by Senator Gagné to convene a Committee of the Whole to examine the expenditures contained in the estimates. I take this opportunity to amend this motion to examine the estimates as they pertain to the individual and collective responsibility of ministers to combat systemic racism. Just as we are calling on a minister of the government to explain and clarify the estimates, we must also call on ministers to provide detailed explanations for the items contained in the estimates as they pertain to issues of racism, in particular, actions that the government is planning or implementing on addressing anti-black and anti-Indigenous racism.
A Committee of the Whole with ministers in this chamber is the beginning of such an effort. It is not the end and will be followed, I hope, by many other efforts that have been mentioned here. The Committee of the Whole is an important tool in our senatorial tool box to consider matters of the day that are urgent, that require sober second thought in a chamber that is less partisan and takes the long view.
I commend my colleagues and other groups, in particular, the Conservative Party of Canada, on insisting that a Committee of the Whole examine these estimates in parallel to the work of National Finance. I have the approval and enthusiasm of Senator Mégie for this amendment. As someone has said, if you want answers, follow the money.
