Legislative Assembly of Ontario

The committee met at 1600 in committee room 2.

Election of Chair

The Clerk of the Committee (Ms. Lesley Flores): Good afternoon, honourable members. It is my duty to call upon you to elect a Chair. Are there any nominations? MPP Anand.

Mr. Deepak Anand: Thank you. You know, over six years, I have seen somebody who is doing an incredible job, and I’m pleased that I’m the one who is actually nominating that person. I’d like to nominate MPP Hogarth as the Chair.

The Clerk of the Committee (Ms. Lesley Flores): Does the member accept the nomination?

Ms. Christine Hogarth: Yes, I do. Thank you.

The Clerk of the Committee (Ms. Lesley Flores): Are there any further nominations? Madame Gélinas.

M^me France Gélinas: I would like to nominate MPP Leardi.

The Clerk of the Committee (Ms. Lesley Flores): Does the member accept the nomination?

Mr. Anthony Leardi: I decline, with thanks.

The Clerk of the Committee (Ms. Lesley Flores): The member has declined.

Are there any further nominations? Madame Gélinas.

M^me France Gélinas: I would like to nominate MPP Smith.

The Clerk of the Committee (Ms. Lesley Flores): Does the member accept the nomination?

Ms. Laura Smith: I decline.

The Clerk of the Committee (Ms. Lesley Flores): Are there any further nominations? There being no further nominations, I declare the nominations closed and MPP Hogarth elected Chair of the committee.

Appointment of subcommittee

The Chair (Ms. Christine Hogarth): Good afternoon, everyone. I call this meeting of the Standing Committee on Social Policy to order.

Pursuant to the order of the House dated October 21, 2024, a change in the composition of the subcommittee on committee business is required. I will now entertain a motion for the replacement of subcommittee member MPP Pierre. MPP Anand.

Mr. Deepak Anand: Before I put forth my motion, I want to congratulate you and I want to say thank you for accepting that. I’m sure the people of Etobicoke–Lakeshore are proud and thankful for the work that you’re doing in your riding. I’ve seen on social media that you’re constantly working and serving your community. Congratulations again.

With the motion, I’d like to move that MPP Smith from Thornhill be appointed to the subcommittee on committee business.

The Chair (Ms. Christine Hogarth): MPP Smith, do you accept the nomination?

Ms. Laura Smith: I accept the nomination, and congratulations.

The Chair (Ms. Christine Hogarth): Are there any further nominations? MPP Gélinas.

M^me France Gélinas: Congratulations on being acclaimed as Chair.

The Chair (Ms. Christine Hogarth): Thank you.

M^me France Gélinas: I know you will do good. I’m just curious: Are the independents allowed to be nominated for a position within the subcommittee?

The Chair (Ms. Christine Hogarth): I will pass that off to the Clerk to respond.

The Clerk of the Committee (Ms. Lesley Flores): The standing orders require that distribution of Chairs and Vice-Chairships be representative of the composition of the House. There isn’t anything in the standing orders to explicitly stop that nomination. If we found ourselves in a situation where the committee had—oh, but for the subcommittee, I would need to get back to you on that, actually. Sorry, I was talking about the Vice-Chairship. I need to consult.

M^me France Gélinas: My question would be, would it be okay to have a member of the Conservatives, an independent and a member of the NDP on the subcommittee, or no?

The Clerk of the Committee (Ms. Lesley Flores): I don’t believe so, but also, technically, this was moved as a motion. So the motion on the floor—

The Chair (Ms. Christine Hogarth): So we should go back to the motion. Is there any debate on the motion of MPP Smith being the committee Chair—sorry, replacing MPP Pierre on the subcommittee? Any debate? MPP Gélinas.

M^me France Gélinas: No, I was going to nominate.

The Clerk of the Committee (Ms. Lesley Flores): It’s a motion—

M^me France Gélinas: Oh, it’s a motion? Okay. But didn’t you ask if there was any other nomination?

The Clerk of the Committee (Ms. Lesley Flores): The Chair was just elected, and I had just given the script. The motion for MPP Smith is the item on the floor.

The Chair (Ms. Christine Hogarth): Okay. Back to a mistake that I made: I shouldn’t have called for another nomination; I should have called for debate on MPP Smith being elected to replace MPP Pierre on the subcommittee. Is there any debate on MPP Smith being on the subcommittee? MPP Gélinas.

M^me France Gélinas: We forgive you. You have been on the job for all of 15 seconds.

The Chair (Ms. Christine Hogarth): I know, but I should have done better.

M^me France Gélinas: It’s allowed. I think MPP Smith will be very good.

The Chair (Ms. Christine Hogarth): Thank you very much.

I will put the question. Are all members ready to vote? Shall the motion carry? All those in favour? All those opposed? The motion is carried.

That’s it? I see a question over here. What’s the process?

The Clerk of the Committee (Ms. Lesley Flores): Standing order 127, regarding subcommittee, which reads as—

Ms. Aislinn Clancy: Sorry; what is the subcommittee for? I know we’re in the social policy committee. What’s the subcommittee for?

The Chair (Ms. Christine Hogarth): It’s to organize committee business.

Ms. Aislinn Clancy: Oh, okay.

The Clerk of the Committee (Ms. Lesley Flores): So the standing order reads, “Following the election of a Chair and Vice-Chair(s) at its first meeting in each Parliament, a standing committee shall appoint a subcommittee on committee business, consisting of the Chair of the standing committee as Chair and one member from each of the recognized parties on the committee, to meet from time to time at the call of the Chair or at the request of any member thereof and to report to the committee on the business of the committee.”

So the answer would be, as the independent was not a member of a recognized party, it would not be in order.

Ms. Aislinn Clancy: So you would be on the subcommittee, though, to do committee business.

M^me France Gélinas: Me or Jill, but it’s—

Ms. Aislinn Clancy: Okay.

The Chair (Ms. Christine Hogarth): This motion was to replace MPP Pierre.

Ms. Aislinn Clancy: Yes, and MPP Clark before that. You’re now our Chair.

The Chair (Ms. Christine Hogarth): Okay, yes. Anything else? Do I have to close? There must be an ending.

Meeting adjourned.

The committee adjourned at 1608.

STANDING COMMITTEE ON SOCIAL POLICY

Chair / Présidente

Ms. Christine Hogarth (Etobicoke–Lakeshore PC)

Vice-Chair / Vice-Présidente

M^me France Gélinas (Nickel Belt ND)

Mr. Tyler Allsopp (Bay of Quinte / Baie de Quinte PC)

MPP Jill Andrew (Toronto–St. Paul’s ND)

Mr. Robert Bailey (Sarnia–Lambton PC)

Ms. Aislinn Clancy (Kitchener Centre / Kitchener-Centre G)

M^me France Gélinas (Nickel Belt ND)

Ms. Christine Hogarth (Etobicoke–Lakeshore PC)

Mr. Anthony Leardi (Essex PC)

Mr. Billy Pang (Markham–Unionville PC)

Ms. Laura Smith (Thornhill PC)

Mrs. Daisy Wai (Richmond Hill PC)

Substitutions / Membres remplaçants

Mr. Deepak Anand (Mississauga–Malton PC)

Mr. Steve Pinsonneault (Lambton–Kent–Middlesex PC)

Clerk / Greffière

Ms. Lesley Flores

Staff / Personnel

Ms. Ellen Wankiewicz, research officer,
Research Services