Canadian Heritage Committee on Feb. 28th, 2023

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Thanks very much, Madam Chair.

I certainly support the motion. I wanted to potentially add to it and have the clerk perhaps confirm with me the earliest minutes from Canada Soccer that we have received as a committee.

[The Clerk]

I'll have to take a minute and check on that. I believe they go back to 2018, but I'll double-check.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

While you're doing that....

Have you finished, Peter? Kevin's hand is up.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

I'm always interested in hearing from Kevin, for sure.

I'll come back on the list, Madam Chair, once we get the answer in terms of minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Good.

Go ahead, Kevin.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

Madam Chair, I'm worried about translation. It has been taking longer to get the translation of any documents that we've received, so I throw that out there in terms of asking for the documents in three days.

You can ask for them, but translation is going to be the issue. They are backed up, as we all know, so I wanted to raise that we might get the documents, but we won't get the translation in time. Thus, we have an issue.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Clerk, do you have a comment on that?

[The Clerk]

I believe we've distributed the Canada Soccer minutes, going back as far as January 2018. That's as far back as they went.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

Yes, Mike. You're right.

If I can interject here, what Anthony is asking for is the unredacted Canada Soccer and Canadian Soccer Business agreement that was signed by Nick Bontis, who, as of yesterday, is the former president of Canada Soccer.

I believe Mr. Housefather wanted to see the transaction or the agreement between Canada Soccer and Canadian Soccer Business, because that's where the issue is starting to fall, with our national teams claiming they're not getting enough money.

Mr. Housefather can correct me, but I think that's the issue.

We would like to see the agreements signed between the two parties. That's why I thought they might give us the agreements by Friday, but it could take them a while to translate it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Kevin.

Peter, is your hand up, or is that a standing hand?

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

It's not a standing hand, Madam Chair. I put them up and take them down each time.

Thanks to our clerk for confirming January 2018.

I would like to add to the motion that we seek the board minutes for 2017 for Canada Soccer. I know you don't allow friendly amendments, but I'm looking at Mr. Housefather. Hopefully, he is amenable to that.

As part of the issue of getting to the bottom of what's transpired with Canada Soccer, I think the minutes from 2017 would be valuable to us. Those minutes would have already been put into place. I don't see any difficulty at all in having Canada Soccer provide those by March 3 as well.

Mr. Waugh is right about the issue of translation. We have about a week—two weeks, ultimately—to get them translated and get them to committee. I think that should be ample time.

I'm hoping that Mr. Housefather is amenable to that amendment—if it can't be a friendly amendment, then as something we add in—which is the board minutes for 2017.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

All right.

Is that not redundant, Anthony, because you have already said “all contracts”? That goes as far back as we want it to go, doesn't it?

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Peter is asking for board minutes, which is different, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You're asking for contracts. All right.

Everyone has heard Peter's amendment, which is the addition of board minutes for 2017.

(Amendment agreed to)

We now have an amended motion on the floor.

Is there any further discussion? No.

(Motion as amended agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

What a great committee to have today. Wow. You guys are moving along nicely.

Given that, is there any further business that anyone wants to discuss with regard to these issues? No.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Madam Chair, I'm not trying to be disagreeable, but I want to come back to the sound quality issue. It is pretty important, after all. We have interpreters, who do an extraordinary job and whose services we need so that each of us fully understands what's being said and can follow the proceedings. Of course, that's true for the people at the table, but it's also true for the other people in the room and those who are following the proceedings virtually.

The interpreters were having problems today because of Mr. Housefather's equipment and the audio quality. I know this is something he cares about deeply as well.

Taking the time to do sound checks when people participate virtually is important. It helps ensure that the meeting flows more smoothly, and it avoids interpreters having to flag a problem or stop interpreting partway because the participant's connection or sound quality is too poor. It would take just five minutes at the beginning of every meeting, but it would make a big difference. Not only is the quality of the interpretation at stake, but so too is the health and safety of the interpreters. What's more, the meeting would flow more smoothly if sound checks were conducted beforehand. We wouldn't have to stop the meeting every time an audio problem arose because a participant wasn't using the right equipment.

I wanted to bring that to your attention, Madam Chair, and to the clerk's. Conducting sound checks should be part of our routine, so that the interpreters can do their jobs.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you. That's a very effective and appropriate solution, Martin.

I see Rachael and Peter. I don't know whose hand went up first, because I was watching Martin as he spoke. It's fascinating to watch Martin as he speaks. Whose hand was up first—Rachael's or Peter's?

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

It was Madam Thomas's.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

All right.

Go ahead, Rachael.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

That's awesome. Thank you so much. I'm just seeking a point of clarification: Is it the will of the committee, then, that we go ahead and hear from Canada Soccer, regardless of whether or not we have these documents translated, or are we going to wait for translation before hearing from Canada Soccer? I am concerned about the time that is potentially going to require.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Could we have the mover of the motion speak to that?

Anthony, are we prepared to go ahead if we do not have the translated documents?

[Anthony Housefather, Liberal, Mount Royal, QC]

Madam Chair, I believe we have already invited Canada Soccer, and the clerk has confirmed them. I was not intending to delay that, but I hope the contracts are the first things translated and that they can get to us relatively quickly.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

Peter.

[Peter Julian, NDP, New Westminster—Burnaby, BC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I think two weeks should be enough for translation.

I agree with Mr. Champoux. We have Jabra headsets, which are very high-quality. The sound quality is good enough for the interpreters to do their jobs. I will say it again because it's important. We have Jabra headsets that we are supposed to be using. If anyone doesn't have one for some reason, the House administration can order them one.

It is vitally important that interpreters have a safe workplace. As committee members, we should agree not to participate in meetings if we don't have a Jabra headset or other House administration-approved headset. The same goes for witnesses. We have to be adamant about that. This is a hybrid Parliament, and if it's going to work, we have to use the appropriate headsets to keep interpreters safe.

I wanted to echo what Mr. Champoux said, because I completely agree with him. We need to prioritize the health and safety of interpreters in the workplace.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Peter.

Martin spoke to the issue of using the appropriate headset for the safety of interpreters, but he wanted to continue to let the meeting be fluid. I think he was suggesting that at the beginning of the meeting we take the five minutes necessary to have a sound check with everyone. I think he was also asking for that, which I think is quite wise.

Kevin, go ahead.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you to Martin and Peter for bringing that up.

I just have a clarification.

I think in the motion, Anthony, you said “current” president of Canada Soccer. Well, yesterday Mr. Bontis resigned. They don't have a current president. Is it possible that we just name the person that we want to come?

I might be off a bit, but I think you said “current” president of Canada Soccer. They don't have one as of yesterday, and they may not have one for several months, so I'm a little concerned about the wording of it.