Agriculture and Forestry
Motion to Authorize Committee to Meet During Sitting of the Senate--Debate Adjourned
March 19, 2019
Pursuant to notice of March 18, 2019, moved:
That the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry have the power to meet on Tuesday, April 2, 2019, at 6:00 p.m., even though the Senate may then be sitting, and that rule 12-18(1) be suspended in relation thereto.
It is moved by the Honourable Senator Griffin, seconded by the Honourable Senator Pate, that the Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry — may I dispense?
Is there anything on debate? Senator Eaton?
I am wondering why, Senator Griffin, you want to sit when the chamber is sitting. Are you doing government business?
I guess it depends on what you call “government business.” We are doing committee work business. Agriculture in this country is one of the largest parts of our economy. We are working on an extremely valuable report on value added to the agriculture and agri-food sector. This evening we could have had a committee meeting from 6:00 until 8:00, but we could not because we didn’t have permission to sit while the Senate was in session. What we had from 6:00 until 8:00 this evening was a pause, not an adjournment of the sitting. As a consequence, had we had permission to sit, we could have sat this evening and gotten our work done.
We are very close to finishing this report. We need to get it finished before the end of the session. As you know, it takes a fair amount of time to produce a report, have it translated, get it finished and table it in the Senate.
The way I look at this is time is valuable; I’ll grant that. We all love being in the chamber; I’ll grant you that. However, there is other work to be done. One of the most important parts of a senator’s work is their committee work, and we’re not really fulfilling our mandate.
To top it all off — and I’m tired of complaining about this; I have complained to everybody about this — the Tuesday evening committees get a raw deal in the situation because it seems that, especially at this time of year, as the session gets longer, it’s the Tuesday evening meetings that are cancelled. The Wednesday meetings can be held because the Senate adjourns at four o’clock or at the end of Government Business. We are in a vulnerable situation, and I’m asking for your consideration. Thank you.
I would like to make a few comments if I could, Your Honour.
Senator Griffin mentioned, first of all, that it was government business of sorts. I am not sure what “of sorts” means.
She also said that they didn’t have permission to sit. I know she didn’t say this, but it almost sounded like she implied that somebody had turned down permission to sit. If Senator Griffin had asked for permission to sit yesterday or the day before, she would have possibly received that permission and they could have sat today. They couldn’t sit today because she had not asked for permission ahead of time.
Your Honour, we in the Conservative caucus believe that, at this time of the year especially, we are very supportive of committees sitting when they are dealing with government bills. Senator Griffin said they had a pause. Well, they only had a pause of sorts. They had half a pause, because there were certainly talks going on with analysts and a number of senators that are on the Agriculture Committee. They certainly got, I suppose, some work done.
However, in light of the fact that they are not dealing specifically with a government bill, Your Honour, we would like to think about this a little bit, so I will move the adjournment of the debate.
It is moved by the Honourable Senator Plett, seconded by the Honourable Senator Wells, that further debate be adjourned until the next sitting of the Senate. Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?
All those in favour of the motion will please say “yea.”
All those opposed to the motion will please say “nay.”
In my opinion, the “yeas” have it.
Do we have agreement on a bell?
The vote will take place at 10:58. Call in the senators.
Your Honour, I think we have an agreement, unanimously, that we will forgo the vote and the adjournment motion will stand as I proposed.
Is it agreed, honourable senators?
