Pursuant to the motion adopted by the House of Commons on Monday, January 27, 2020, the clerk of the committee presided over the election of a chair.

On motion of Marcus Powlowski, it was agreed, — That Ron McKinnon be elected Chair of the committee.

Ron McKinnon took the chair.

On motion of Robert Kitchen, it was agreed, — That Matt Jeneroux be elected First Vice-Chair of the committee.

Len Webber moved, — That Don Davies be elected Second Vice-Chair of the committee.

Matt Jeneroux moved, — That Luc Thériault be elected Second Vice-Chair of the committee.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(3), the election was conducted by secret ballot.

The ballots having been counted, Luc Thériault was declared duly elected Second Vice-Chair.

On motion of Darren Fisher, it was agreed, — That the committee retain, as needed and at the discretion of the Chair, the services of one or more analysts from the Library of Parliament to assist it in its work.

On motion of Darren Fisher, it was agreed, — That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be established and be composed of five members, namely the Chair and one member from each recognized party; and that the subcommittee work in a spirit of collaboration.

Darren Fisher moved, — That the Chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive evidence and to have that evidence printed when a quorum is not present, provided that at least four members are present, including one member of the opposition and one member of the government, but when travelling outside the Parliamentary Precinct, that the meeting begin after 15 minutes, regardless of members present.

After debate, the question was put on the motion, as amended, and it was agreed to.

The motion, as amended, read as follows:

That the Chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive evidence and to have that evidence printed when a quorum is not present, provided that at least four members are present, including two members of the opposition and two members of the government, but when travelling outside the Parliamentary Precinct, that the meeting begin after 15 minutes, regardless of members present.

On motion of Darren Fisher, it was agreed, — That witnesses be given 10 minutes for their opening statement; that, at the discretion of the Chair, during the questioning of witnesses, there be allocated six minutes for the first questioner of each party as follows: First round: Conservative Party, Liberal Party, Bloc Québécois, New Democratic Party; for the second and subsequent rounds, the order and time for questioning be as follows: Conservative Party, five minutes, Liberal Party, five minutes, Conservative Party, five minutes, Liberal Party, five minutes, Bloc Québécois, two and a half minutes, New Democratic Party, two and a half minutes.

On motion of Darren Fisher, it was agreed, — That the clerk of the committee be authorized to distribute documents to members of the committee only when the documents are available in both official languages, and that witnesses be advised accordingly.

On motion of Darren Fisher, it was agreed, — That the clerk of the committee be authorized to make the necessary arrangements to provide working meals for the committee and its subcommittees.

On motion of Darren Fisher, it was agreed, — That, if requested, reasonable travel, accommodation and living expenses be reimbursed to witnesses not exceeding two representatives per organization, provided that, in exceptional circumstances, payment for more representatives be made at the discretion of the Chair.

On motion of Darren Fisher, it was agreed, — That, unless otherwise ordered, each committee member be allowed to have one staff member at an in camera meeting and that one additional person from each House officer’s office be allowed to be present.

On motion of Darren Fisher, it was agreed, — That one copy of the transcript of each in camera meeting be kept in the committee clerk’s office for consultation by members of the Ccmmittee or by their staff.

On motion of Darren Fisher, it was agreed, — That a 48 hours notice, interpreted as two nights, shall be required for any substantive motion to be considered by the committee, unless the substantive motion relates directly to business then under consideration, provided that (1) the notice be filed with the clerk of the committee no later than 4:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday, that (2) the motion be distributed to Members in both official languages by the clerk on the same day the said notice was transmitted if it was received no later than the deadline hour, and that (3) notices received after the deadline hour or on non-business days be deemed to have been received during the next business day; and that when the committee is travelling outside the Parliamentary Precinct, no substantive motions may be moved.

At 4:27 p.m., the sitting was suspended.

At 4:30 p.m., the sitting resumed.

Sonia Sidhu moved, — That the committee continue the briefing next week, Monday, February 3, and Wednesday, February 5, 2020, with some witnesses from the Canada Border Services Agency, the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, the Department of National Defence, the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, and the Department of Transport, or others suggested by the opposition.

After debate, the question was put on the motion and it was agreed to.

Tina Namiesniowski made a statement and, with the other witnesses, answered questions.

It was agreed, — That the committee continue to sit beyond the scheduled meeting end time in order to continue questioning witnesses.

It was agreed, — That the Chair work with the clerk to arrange the appearance of further witnesses for the upcoming briefing sessions on the Canadian response to the outbreak of the coronavirus, if requests to that effect are made to the Chair or witness lists are sent to the clerk by the parties.

Questioning of the witnesses resumed.

It was agreed, — That the matter of additional routine motions be considered during the regular meeting scheduled for Monday, February 3, 2020.

On motion of Matt Jeneroux, it was agreed, — That, when services are available, the meetings in relation to the Canadian response to the outbreak of the coronavirus be televised.