The committee met at 1400 in committee room 1 and by video conference.

Election of Chair

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

Ms. Lindsey Park: I nominate MPP Daryl Kramp.

The Clerk of the Committee (Ms. Thushitha Kobikrishna): Does the member accept the nomination?

Mr. Daryl Kramp: Yes, I do.

The Clerk of the Committee (Ms. Thushitha Kobikrishna): Are there any further nominations? There being no further nominations, I declare the nominations closed and MPP Daryl Kramp as elected Chair of the committee.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): Well, good afternoon, everyone. I’m glad that everyone is well and staying safe and healthy. I’ll of course go over an attendance check so that we can ensure that we have who we have here. In the room here, I notice we have Lindsey Park, and we have Lucille Collard in the room, as well as, of course, myself as Chair.

I will start with the attendance check. I’ll ask for attendance again at the end, in case anyone else has joined us. Here before us now, I have on the list here Parm Gill. Is Parm here? I do not see Parm here.

Mr. Parm Gill: Yes, Chair, I’m here.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): Oh, thank you very much. You are here in Ontario?

Mr. Parm Gill: I am in Milton.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): You’re in Milton? That’s fine. Thank you very kindly. Now I see Suzie Morrison.

Ms. Suze Morrison: Hi. It’s Suze, but yes, I’m here in Toronto.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): Thank you, Suzie.

Ms. Suze Morrison: It’s Suze, not Suzie.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): I’m sorry, Suzie; try that again. I missed you.

Ms. Suze Morrison: It’s pronounced “Suze”—it rhymes with “news”—not “Suzie.”

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): Oh, excuse me. Then my sincere apologies.

Ms. Suze Morrison: Thank you very much.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): Gurratan Singh?

Mr. Gurratan Singh: Yes, Gurratan Singh here, calling in from Brampton.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): Thank you very kindly. Nina Tangri?

Mrs. Nina Tangri: Yes, I’m in Mississauga, Ontario.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): Effie Triantafilopoulos?

Ms. Effie J. Triantafilopoulos: Thank you, Chair. I’m in Oakville, Ontario.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): Amy Fee?

Ms. Amy Fee: I’m in Kitchener South–Hespeler.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): I don’t think I’ve missed anybody. There’s nobody out there that I have missed, I would certainly hope. I don’t see any hands up. I think we’ve got everybody.

Of course, as is typical at committee these days, we’ll go over the participation guidelines for Zoom. Please be aware that broadcast and recording will be controlling your microphones, as they usually would in committee. Depending on the version of Zoom that you’re using, you may have been asked to grant permission to unmute when you joined. If you accepted, the broadcast operator will be able to activate your microphone once the Chair recognizes you. Participants using older versions of Zoom may still get a request to unmute your microphone before you’re able to speak, but please wait for the unmute notification before trying to communicate.

For members that are calling in with audio today, to indicate to the Clerk that you would like to speak, please press 9. To mute and unmute yourself, please use the mute button on your device. If you get accidentally disconnected, please try to rejoin the meeting with the information you used initially. Of course, if you’re unable, please contact Andrew Kleiman from technical services at akleiman@ola.org, or you can phone in at 416-804-6536. If you have to leave the call at any time, please advise the Clerk in the chat room.

As always in committee, but starting off, I will go over the voting process for clarity. The vote during today’s meeting will be through a show of hands, and I will start by asking all the members if they’re ready to vote. At that time, I will ask all those in favour to please raise your hands, and the Clerk will then count the hands. Then I will ask all those opposed to please raise your hands, and the Clerk will then count the raised hands. At that point, I will then declare the vote. Unless someone specifically asks for a recorded vote after I have asked whether the members are ready to vote, the breakdown of the vote will not show up in Hansard at that point.

Does anybody have any questions? Seeing none, have any other members joined since I did the attendance check? Okay. I have Natalia Kusendova. Natalia, are you in Ontario?

Ms. Natalia Kusendova: Yes, hello, Chair. This is MPP Kusendova calling from Mississauga.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): Thank you very, very kindly.

We don’t appear to have any technical difficulties, but if we have technical difficulties, then I will go through the entire process that we will follow here. Please raise your hand if we have a technical difficulty, and at that time I’ll read out the process that we will use for that.

I think we’re ready to go at this point. I will just make one statement before we move on just very, very quickly. Thank you for the privilege of serving as your Chair for the justice committee. It’s an honour. I know a lot of people view the workings of Parliament through the lens of question period, and they really don’t have a real recognition that a lot of the serious work of the Legislature takes place in committee rooms just like we have right here. So it’s my hope that this committee will function in an efficient and collegial manner even though, of course, we may have a difference of opinion and perspectives at times, but that is to be expected. But I will do my best to chair this committee in a fair and transparent manner. That is what I have to say as your Chair right now.

Election of Vice-Chair

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): The floor is open. Yes, Ms. Triantafilopoulos, please.

Ms. Effie J. Triantafilopoulos: I would respectfully like to submit my resignation as Vice-Chair of this committee.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): Thank you very much, Ms. Triantafilopoulos. Let us do two things. First of all, let us thank you for your work as Vice-Chair, certainly, and we respect your decision on that as we move forward.

Honourable members of this committee, I have received a letter as well from Ms. Triantafilopoulos, indicating her resignation as Vice-Chair, effective February 18, 2021.

It is my duty to entertain a motion for Vice-Chair. Are there any motions? Yes, Ms. Triantafilopoulos, please.

Ms. Effie J. Triantafilopoulos: I move that Madame Collard be appointed Vice-Chair of the committee.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): Thank you very much. A motion has been received.

Are you willing to serve as Vice-Chair?

M^me Lucille Collard: Yes. Thank you. I’d be honoured.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): Fine. Thank you. Is there any debate on the issue? Are the members ready to vote for your Vice-Chair? All in favour, please raise your hand. All opposed, please raise your hand. Thank you. The motion then has carried. I welcome our new Vice-Chair.

The Chair sees no other business before us at this time. Is there any further business before this committee at this time? Seeing none, thank you all very kindly for your attendance today. We will soon see you in the working part of our meeting shortly. This meeting is now adjourned.

The committee adjourned at 1409.

STANDING COMMITTEE ON JUSTICE POLICY

Chair / Président

Mr. Daryl Kramp (Hastings–Lennox and Addington PC)

Vice-Chair / Vice-Présidente

M^me Lucille Collard (Ottawa–Vanier L)

Mr. Will Bouma (Brantford–Brant PC)

M^me Lucille Collard (Ottawa–Vanier L)

Mr. Parm Gill (Milton PC)

Mr. Daryl Kramp (Hastings–Lennox and Addington PC)

Ms. Natalia Kusendova (Mississauga Centre / Mississauga-Centre PC)

Ms. Suze Morrison (Toronto Centre / Toronto-Centre ND)

Ms. Lindsey Park (Durham PC)

Mr. Gurratan Singh (Brampton East / Brampton-Est ND)

Mrs. Nina Tangri (Mississauga–Streetsville PC)

Ms. Effie J. Triantafilopoulos (Oakville North–Burlington / Oakville-Nord–Burlington PC)

Mr. Kevin Yarde (Brampton North / Brampton-Nord ND)

Substitutions / Membres remplaçants

Ms. Amy Fee (Kitchener South–Hespeler / Kitchener-Sud–Hespeler PC)

Clerk / Greffière

Ms. Thushitha Kobikrishna

Staff / Personnel

Ms. Heather Conklin, research officer,
Research Services

Mr. Andrew McNaught, research officer,
Research Services