Evidence of meeting #67 for Canadian Heritage in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was google.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:30 a.m.
Liberal
11:30 a.m.
Liberal
11:30 a.m.
Liberal
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
There is a Canadian on the list. Sabrina is Canadian, and she's the country manager for Canada, so that is covered. There is a Canadian presence.
11:30 a.m.
Conservative
11:30 a.m.
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
I was going to say the same thing, Madam Chair. One of the people on the list looks to have a French last name, Richard Gingras. I assume he works for Google in Canada. As far as Ms. Geremia is concerned, she does indeed work for Google in Canada.
I have a question about what Mr. Waugh asked. If we summon people who do not work in Canada or who are not in Canada at the time of the summons and if those people do not respond to the summons to appear, would they have trouble getting into Canada afterwards?
Mr. Housefather is nodding yes, but the clerk is saying no. I'll let them sort it out.
11:30 a.m.
Liberal
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
I think I'll let Mike chime in.
If they come to Canada, the committee can then seek to enforce the summons. The committee maintains the power, when the person arrives on Canadian soil, to seek to enforce it. Whether or not they accept the invitation of the committee would certainly be something they would consider if they come to Canada frequently.
Again, as Mike said, we have no power to force them. I believe we had Mr. Zuckerberg when we did that the last time, and we had no power to force it, but if they ever do come to Canada, we can then actually attempt to enforce it. Certainly, given that we have a Canadian on the list, we know that she is required to come, and we'll see how the others comport themselves. Hopefully, they'll be co-operative—
11:30 a.m.
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
I apologize for interrupting Mr. Housefather, but I have a point of order, Madam Chair. I'm not sure what the problem is, but the interpretation has stopped.
11:30 a.m.
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
I'm being told that the audio quality wasn't good enough.
It may be the position of your mike, Mr. Housefather.
11:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
While we look after that with Anthony, I'll move on to Peter Julian, who has his hand up.
11:35 a.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Madam Chair, we may run into the same issue with the interpretation.
11:35 a.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Very good.
I think it is really important as a committee.... It is true that we have to report this to the House, but this is something these executives have to respond to. If we start to say that we will allow Google to replace the decision-makers with locally based people, even though one of the people we are summoning is in Canada, we're sending the wrong message.
Google's actions have been irresponsible. Google's actions amount to censorship. Google's actions are disrespectful of Canadians. I think we should be prepared as a committee to report this to the House if we have Google executives who show even more disrespect by refusing the summons of a parliamentary committee. This is no small thing.
I think it's important that we proceed, as we should, with the intent to push Google to respect this parliamentary committee and ultimately the House of Commons, the Parliament of Canada and the Canadian people.
11:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Thank you, Peter.
Just before I go to Martin, I would like to clarify something with Mike, the clerk.
Can the House of Commons, if reported, summons people from outside of Canada? Does that hold, or do they not have the power?
February 28th, 2023 / 11:35 a.m.
The Clerk
We can attempt it. Basically, we'd be trying to find some sort of process server to deliver it to assure the committee that they had indeed received the summons, but the person could completely ignore it. There is no enforceable mechanism whereby Canada's Parliament can compel someone to appear at committee. They have to be within Canada. That's where the privileges and powers of the committee and Parliament extend.
11:35 a.m.
Bloc
Martin Champoux Bloc Drummond, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
First off, the motion was adopted, and we are going to summon the people listed in the motion. I suggest that the committee wait to see how the people at Google respond. In all likelihood, we won't get to hear from everyone we summoned. It is even highly likely that we'll get only one of them—or two, if we're lucky. At that point, the committee would have to decide whether that was satisfactory. Once we meet with the witnesses from Google who do appear, the committee members will have to decide whether they have heard enough or whether the committee should again summon the head of Google in a more formal capacity.
As the clerk pointed out, we don't have the power to summon witnesses outside the country. We can give it a shot and hope for good faith and goodwill on Google's end. We should decide whether we are satisfied with the witnesses who appear after we send out our summons.
My sense is that Google will send someone, but I think it's unlikely that all four of the people in the motion will appear on Monday.
11:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Thank you.
Anthony, did you finish what you had to say? Is your mike working now?
I would like to double-check: Is there interpretation?
11:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Hopefully.
We will now move on.
Anthony, will you bring forward your motion, please?
11:35 a.m.
Liberal
Anthony Housefather Liberal Mount Royal, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I believe I had unanimous consent to ask for documents from Canada Soccer. The motion reads as follows:
That as part of the committee’s Safe Sport study, the committee orders Canada Soccer to produce an unredacted copy of all contracts (including but not limited to the representation agreement) that it has with Canadian Soccer Business and that these be provided to the clerk of the committee by Friday at noon EST on March 3, 2023.
This is just so we can get this very important document before we have Canada Soccer come and speak with us.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
11:40 a.m.
Liberal
