Agriculture Committee on Oct. 6th, 2009

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Isabelle Duford]

Honourable members of the committee, I see a quorum.

We can now proceed to the election of the chair.

I must inform members that the Clerk of the Committee can only receive motions for the election of the chair. The clerk cannot receive other types of motions and cannot entertain points of order nor participate in debate.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the chair must be a member of the government party.

I am ready to receive motions to that effect.

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

I nominate Larry Miller for the position of chair, if it is his choice.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Mr. Storseth that Mr. Miller be elected as chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Miller duly elected chair of the committee.

Before inviting Mr. Miller to take the chair, if the committee wishes we will now proceed to the election of vice-chairs.

Mr. Storseth.

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

In the spirit of non-partisanship and cooperation, even though we have had some problems with our former vice-chair--

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

--I think he has always worked really hard at his job. It was in the spirit of utmost non-partisanship that he did an excellent job for us, so I would nominate Mark Eyking.

[Mark Eyking, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Madam Chair, could I have conditions on that?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Mr. Storseth that Mr. Eyking be elected first vice-chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Eyking duly elected as first vice-chair of the committee.

We now have the election of the second vice-chair from an opposition party other than the official opposition.

Mr. Miller.

[Larry Miller, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

I nominate André Bellavance.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Mr. Miller that Mr. Bellavance be elected second vice-chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

I declare Mr. Bellavance duly elected second vice-chair of the committee.

I now invite Mr. Miller to take the chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Thank you very much.

We can do one of two things. We can end the meeting as is, but also, with unanimous consent, we can continue the meeting if you so wish. We do have two motions here that have had the 48 hours' notice. Also, at our last meeting we had a discussion about the continuation of the competitiveness report.

What are your wishes?

Mr. Easter.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Do we have to pass the rules of procedure at this meeting or do we assume they're the same as they were?

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

The clerk just responded that they remain the same.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

Okay.

I think if you recall, Mr. Chair, I had suggested a—

[Brian Storseth, Conservative, Westlock—St. Paul, AB]

Mr. Chair, on a point of order, I do believe that in order for you to continue with the meeting and for Mr. Easter to introduce any new motions, you would at least have to ask for unanimous consent.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

He can't issue any motions, and I didn't hear that coming from him, but you are correct that we need unanimous consent to continue.

Do we have that?

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

I wasn't about to introduce a motion, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Okay.

Anyway, do we have unanimous consent to continue?

[An hon. member]

Yes.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Wild Rose, AB]

No, sorry, I wasn't prepared for a long meeting today, Mr. Chair, so I can't give that consent.

[Wayne Easter, Liberal, Malpeque, PE]

We have issues out there, guys.

It took away two weeks.

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Wild Rose, AB]

I had no notice there were going to be any motions today. Sorry.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Under the rules, we must have unanimous consent.

It would be my plan to go ahead with the steering committee on Thursday.

This meeting is adjourned.