By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – After a Heritage Committee business meeting started an hour late due to votes (already scheduled), the parliamentary secretary of the Minister of Canadian Heritage proposed a motion to have the clause-by-clause study of Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act, start on Monday, June 13, while suggesting a study of allegations of the involvement of Hockey Canada in the settlement of a sexual assault lawsuit could be conducted before the end of the current session.
A Conservative member had proposed an amendment on June 6 to hold a hearing on the issue before the clause-by-clause phase.
At the meeting today, the presenter of the unanimous motion in the House of Commons, a Bloc Québécois member, suggested the committee could start the study of C-11 and still have a three-hour meeting next week to hear from the Minister of Sports and Hockey Canada.
The chair of the committee, Liberal MP Hedy Fry, asked if he was submitting an amendment and when he said yes, she asked if he could produce the text of such an amendment and suspended the meeting for a long time due to translation issues. He then withdrew it.
The NDP then proposed a compromise to hear the Minister of Sports and Hockey Canada on June 13 and 15 and have the amendments to C-11 tabled by June 10, which was rejected by the Conservatives. Time ran out and nothing was accomplished.
So, there is no meeting scheduled for the Minister of Sports and Hockey Canada and the parliamentary secretary of the Heritage minister accused the Conservatives of using the alleged Hockey Canada scandal as a filibustering tactic.
Meanwhile, the Senate’s Transportation and Communications Committee met in camera today to consider a draft agenda for their pre-study of Bill C-11.
