The committee met at 1400 in committee room 1.

Committee business

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): Good afternoon, everybody, now that I’ve got your attention. It’s great to see all the smiling faces here in person, simply, rather than the Zoom. It’s good to see everybody.

Now, I’d like to call this meeting of the Standing Committee on Justice Policy to order. Colleagues, we are here to consider committee process today with respect to Bill 100, which was referred to the committee pursuant to the order of the House on March 29, 2022. Does everybody understand that?

Are there any questions? Seeing none, does anyone have a motion? Ms. Hogarth.

Ms. Christine Hogarth: I move that the committee enter into closed session for the purpose of organizing committee business.

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

Yes, Mr. Singh?

Mr. Gurratan Singh: Chair, are we now opening this motion for debate?

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): No. This motion is to go into closed session—

Mr. Gurratan Singh: No, to debate this motion. My apologies.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): To debate this motion, correct. Then it will open for debate, absolutely.

Mr. Gurratan Singh: Okay. If I may, Chair?

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): Yes.

Mr. Gurratan Singh: This is a very important piece of legislation, and I think it’s very important that the public be given an opportunity to hear the discussion that’s happening in a form that they should be able to access. So I think it’s a bad decision to move this discussion to closed. It should be open, it should be public so the community, the Ontarian community as a whole, has the opportunity to hear what’s being said so they understand how this law will be discussed and so all the information is present and put forward.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): Thank you very much, Mr. Singh. Further conversation? Yes, Mr. Yarde, please.

Mr. Kevin Yarde: I’d also like to go on record in accordance with my colleague from Brampton East that this session, requested by the government to be a closed session—I think it should be on camera so that we can have the people of Ontario to discuss this, because it is a very important bill. So I’d like to go on record saying that I’m against having it closed, and I would request that it is on camera.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): Thank you, Mr. Yarde. We will go to Mr. Hardeman, please.

Mr. Ernie Hardeman: Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity. I want to point out that this is a replacement, or a substitute, for a subcommittee meeting, and in all the time that I’ve been here, a subcommittee meeting is always without the public presence—an in camera meeting. In fact, it doesn’t even meet in the committee room; it’s usually in the back room at the Legislature that the subcommittee meets.

This is a subcommittee meeting to talk about how we’re going to proceed. There’s nothing, then, in our discussions there that is going to have an impact on the public as far as the workings of the committee beyond that. This is just where we’re going to do—how long we’re going to take in doing it. This is something that has always been done in camera, so I support the motion to go in camera.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): Thank you. Ms. Hogarth, and then back to Mr. Singh, please.

Ms. Christine Hogarth: Ernie spoke; that’s fine.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): Okay. Thank you. Mr. Singh, further comment?

Mr. Gurratan Singh: We would be asking for a recorded vote on this motion, just so it’s put on the record that we disagree with today’s session being done in camera and would prefer that it is done openly for the public to view.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): Fine. Thank you very much. A recorded vote has been called for. All in favour?

Interjection.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): Well, all the smiling faces tell me everybody is ready to vote, but is everybody ready to vote? Yes.

Ayes

Hardeman, Hogarth, Kusendova, Pettapiece, Skelly, Triantafilopoulos.

Nays

Collard, Gurratan Singh, Yarde.

The Chair (Mr. Daryl Kramp): The motion is carried.

Colleagues, we will then go into closed session. We will have a very brief break during that process.

The committee recessed at 1405 and later continued in closed session.

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)

M^me Lucille Collard (Ottawa–Vanier L)

Ms. Christine Hogarth (Etobicoke–Lakeshore PC)

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

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

Mr. Jim McDonell (Stormont–Dundas–South Glengarry PC)

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

Mr. Randy Pettapiece (Perth–Wellington PC)

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

Ms. Donna Skelly (Flamborough–Glanbrook PC)

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

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

Substitutions / Membres remplaçants

Mr. Ernie Hardeman (Oxford PC)

Clerk / Greffière

Ms. Thushitha Kobikrishna

Staff / Personnel

Mr. Andrew McNaught, research officer,
Research Services