Speaking to Committee is one of the best ways to communicate your thoughts on a bill to the government. You will be given a ten-minute time slot in which to give your presentation, and presentations can be held in person, by phone, or over Zoom.
The committee hearing for Bill 36 is not yet scheduled, but you can still register to speak. Since the current sitting of the house is over, the hearing will happen sometime in the fall session. The fall session begins September 28 and runs through to November 1. The Government House Leader schedules the meeting after second reading. In terms of what the timing will be in that session, it depends on how fast the government chooses to move this bill forward. Given past experience, we expect the hearing to be held sometime in mid-October.
To register, call the Clerk at 204-945-3636. They will ask what bill you want to speak about, and they’ll take down your contact information and call you back with the date and your time slot once a date is scheduled. They will also ask if you are presenting as a private individual or on behalf of an organization.
The Manitoba Government has created a guide on how to present over Zoom here: Virtual Committees: PRESENTER GUIDE (gov.mb.ca)
Bill 36: How to Speak to Committee Webinar
Summary of the Issues
To help people prepare for their committee presentations, we’ve created a document that summarizes the six major issues with Bill 36 that have been identified by our coalition. For each issue we give some background, explain why the issue matters, and offer some suggestions for what you might want to say to committee. Download the PDF!
How to Present to Committee
We are also planning to hold a webinar/share a presentation on how to present to committee that is more specific to this bill at some point in the future. Sign up to our mailing list here to be informed when this happens.