ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS — The Senate
National Finance and Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committees Authorized to Meet Entirely by Video Conference during the Adjournment of the Senate
November 19, 2020
Honourable senators, with leave of the Senate and notwithstanding rule 5-5(j), I move:
That, pursuant to the order adopted by the Senate on November 17, 2020:
1.the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance have the power to meet entirely by videoconference for the purposes of its study of the expenditures set out in the Main Estimates and the Supplementary Estimates (B) for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2021, as authorized by the Senate on November 18, 2020; and
2.the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs have the power to meet entirely by videoconference for the purposes of its study of the subject matter of Bill C-7, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (medical assistance in dying), as authorized by the Senate on November 3, 2020; and
That both the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance and the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs be authorized, pursuant to rule 12-18(2)(b)(i), to meet for the purposes of the above studies, between November 23 and 27, 2020, inclusive, even though the Senate may then be adjourned for a period of more than one week.
The Hon. the Speaker: Is leave granted, honourable senators?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
Your Honour, we will be ready for the question in just a minute. I do want to take just a minute, though, if I could, to clarify something.
First, I was and still am very much in agreement with the motion the way it is written, and I was a supporter of and helped in drafting the motion. However, I do want to make a point, Your Honour, that these trying times we are having call for us to do many things we don’t particularly like to do and that we are doing differently now than what I would like to see us do.
We have approved many billions of dollars in short sittings. We have committee meetings that are held in hybrid and virtual fashions. We have a Senate that is meeting in a hybrid format. That is not what the Senate was intended to do, but we are all compensating.
But there are bills sometimes that are, to many of us, more important than others, and even though we have spent billions of dollars — and much of that would be to save lives — we have before us a bill in Bill C-7 that is intended to do something else; some of us would say it’s intended to do the opposite of saving lives. So it’s of more consequence to some of us than it is to others.
Therefore, I, at least, want to be on the record in saying how saddened I am that we are going to be discussing an issue of this magnitude and importance, either in hybrid or virtual sittings. Although, as I said, I’m complicit in having written this, I heard there was some disagreement at the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs that the way the motion is written compels the committee to sit virtually. I thank Senator Dalphond for shaking his head because it looks to me like he’s going to agree with me. I, at least, simply want to be on the record that this does not compel the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs to sit virtually; it allows them to sit virtually. If the committee were to decide they wanted to sit in a hybrid fashion, they could do that.
I want it to be on the record that they would, in fact, be allowed to sit in a hybrid fashion. Many believe they might be more convincing if they were sitting around a table.
Your Honour, I thank you, and I thank the Senate for giving me the opportunity to put those concerns on the record. With that, Your Honour, I would be ready for the question.
Honourable senators, since we have a statement that intends to provide some clarification, I feel it’s necessary to provide a fuller story of this matter. I, too, want to get this question dealt with as soon as possible. I do not know if the motion, as written, does allow for the committee to be able to sit in a hybrid form if it so chooses, so we should not take that as a given. However, I will leave that to those who understand procedure and who can interpret the motion with greater accuracy.
I would say, though, that the reason for this motion is because we decided not to sit next week, and we decided not to sit next week because of the worsening COVID situation. We have chosen to not be in this chamber, to not endanger ourselves and endanger the staff. If we were then to say that committees can do exactly what we chose not to do — to sit in person in a hybrid format — it would beg the question as to why we chose it for the Senate as a whole to not sit in the first place.
So I would just ask that both committees, Legal Affairs and National Finance, weigh very carefully, first, if they have the right to sit in a hybrid format and, second, whether that is, in fact, the wise thing to do, given that we have made a decision that goes in the opposite direction when it comes to the chamber as a whole.
Your Honour, with that, I hope we can quickly get leave and have this matter settled.
Are honourable senators ready for the question?
Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
(Motion agreed to.)
