Evidence of meeting #55 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was motions.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Order, please.
We have a whole list of motions. In order to speed this up, I'll just refer to them. If you don't want to--
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
Larry, I'd like to move number 16 first. I feel this is an urgent motion. I'm going to take most of my other ones off the list.
I see the genetically modified Roundup Ready alfalfa as an urgent motion that I think this committee needs to deal with before we leave. I don't want to see it fall off the list, so I am moving it first--
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
--to ensure that it doesn't fall off the list.
I think that's our right to do so, Mr. Chair. You can ask the clerk, but I'm sure it is.
So I'd like to move it now and have it out of the way.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Okay, but remember, there's a whole bunch of motions, Wayne. You have the first two, and if you want to pull them off, just....
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
I know, Chair, but we can pull them up whenever we so desire, under the rules. We could have pulled them up at any committee meeting, for that matter. We haven't done that, but I do see this as an urgent motion. God knows what will happen over the next couple of weeks, and I'd like to see the committee deal with this one so that it is a recommendation to the Government of Canada immediately.
I am moving it, and I think if you ask the clerk, it's within the rules for me to do that.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Pierre Lemieux Conservative Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
Chair, I'd just like to know what Mr. Easter is up to. I ask the question because we all know....
Chair, we've been working together for roughly two or two and a half years, and we have well-established procedures here on committee. One of the procedures we've always agreed to is that we would handle motions in the order in which they were presented. We've held to this time and time again.
There have been other times, Chair, when a Conservative member has had something on the table that he feels is extremely important and should be moved ahead. We've always deferred to our committee practice. We've always had discussion and then we've always deferred to our committee practice of motions being dealt with in the order in which they were presented.
Now, that doesn't mean that the movers of particular motions...they can pull them off the table. We have here a list of 16 motions. Mr. Easter feels he's special today: somehow his sixteenth motion should rocket right to the top, right to the front, number one, for the first time in two and a half years....
So I think my question is a valid one in terms of what is--
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Pierre Lemieux Conservative Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
I'm on a point of order. You can't interrupt a point of order with a point of order.
11:50 a.m.
An hon. member
Actually, you can.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Pierre Lemieux Conservative Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
No, you can't. Why would your point of order be more important than my point of order?
11:50 a.m.
An hon. member
You never know.
11:50 a.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Pierre Lemieux Conservative Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
It's not.
Chair, I have the floor on a point of order. The point of order is that we have a well-established tradition, and it's something that we've reinforced time and time again in terms of how it is that we actually deal with motions.
I actually find the approach that Mr. Easter is taking is somewhat disrespectful to the committee. Why do we try to work together to establish well-agreed-to principles if we're going to cast aside those principles? It doesn't make any sense to me.
For example, Chair, the first motion that's in front of the committee right now belongs to Wayne Easter. So Wayne Easter can remove that from the list. In fact, he could have removed it from the list--it's somewhat dated--a long time ago, but he did not remove it from the list. He can do that today, though. If he decides, in order to save time, in order to get to motion number 16 first, he will remove his motion one, he can either continue to have it tabled, meaning that we'll come back to it at a later time, or, as you well know, he can actually remove his motion, and that's it. It's over with. The committee doesn't have to deal with it.
It's the same with motion two. Who does that belong to? Wayne Easter. Wayne Easter can remove that motion from the list or he can table it, meaning that we'll get back to this at a later time.
Who does motion three belong to? Wayne Easter. It's the same concept; Mr. Easter is sitting on the first three motions. In fact, most of those are very dated. They shouldn't actually be there, but Mr. Easter has decided to leave them in play, so to speak, for the committee. He's right that he could have moved on them at any time up until today, but he can also dispose of them in a heartbeat.
Monsieur Bellavance owns the fourth motion on specified risk materials. We can either debate his motion today or he can actually withdraw it or he can table it another time.
Chair, we have Alex Atamanenko sitting on motion five. Wayne Easter has, again, motion six. Wayne Easter has motion seven.
As I work through the list, Chair, we have Wayne Easter, motion eight; Wayne Easter, motion nine. Number 10 is by Randy Hoback; Francis Valeriote has number 11; and Blake Richards has number 12.
The point is, Chair, that most of the motions actually rest with the opposition right now, and my point is that we should continue in the same tradition that we've always had, which is deal with the first motions first. If they want to save time then they should remove them from the agenda, and the committee can then move to the next motion and then to the next motion in an orderly fashion.
As I just pointed out, out of the first nine motions, all nine belong to the opposition. So if they're united in their approach in wanting to advance this quickly, then remove those from the table; they should have done it a long time ago. As I said, a lot of these are dated. Their relevance has passed, but for some reason the opposition has kept these motions in front of committee.
So my recommendation, Chair, is that this committee proceed in the way in which it has always proceeded, which is that first motions are dealt with first.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
11:55 a.m.
NDP
Alex Atamanenko NDP British Columbia Southern Interior, BC
I'll try to be a little briefer than the parliamentary secretary.
Look, we had my bill. It didn't pass. Although I was skeptical, there was a tour of the biotech industry, and I think thanks to that we have been able to flesh out aspects of the biotech industry. One of the things that we've seen in the last while with the witnesses is that a number of people explained the urgency of the situation in regard to alfalfa. We're not talking about GE...we're talking about alfalfa and its effect on farmers.
So I think it would be appropriate for us. This is an urgent situation. It's more urgent than any other potential GE crop. The urgency is there.
For example, I'm willing to defer my motions. Perhaps, in the spirit of cooperation, all members would be willing to do this. Let us hammer this one out and vote on it, and then we can come back.
I'm willing to let other members have their motions discussed after that. I have no urgency for my other motions. I think it's crucial that we have a chance to debate and vote on this motion as soon as possible.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
So you and Mr. Easter are both indicating that you're willing to bypass your motions. Okay.
Mr. Bellavance.
11:55 a.m.
Bloc
André Bellavance Bloc Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I simply want to tell Mr. Lemieux that I agree with him when he says that, normally, motions are dealt with in the order they were presented. This is quite commendable. However, unless I am mistaken, the rules allow a member to move a motion at any time on an urgent matter in order to have it debated in committee.
A member can move a motion on any topic, even if 25 other motions have been moved earlier. Sometimes, I believe, urgent matters must absolutely be taken into accounts. I remember having moved a motion that was never put to a vote because the Conservatives did not agree. There has to be some fair-play here. We may decide to deal with the motions in the order they were tabled but that will not prevent anyone from playing political games.
Fortunately, a member is indeed entitled to move any motion. Like Alex, I have no objection to having my two motions debated after Wayne's.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Randy Hoback Conservative Prince Albert, SK
Thank you, Chair.
I'm a little surprised to hear that all of a sudden everybody is willing to give up their motions. I'm not willing to give up my order. When I brought forward my motion I respected the committee's order of precedence. I did not push it. I did not ask to jump the queue, as Mr. Easter is asking now.
When you look at the details of my motion on the Canadian Wheat Board and the purchase of lakers, that is a “time of essence” motion. They've actually spent $65 million of farmers' money without consulting the farmers. It may or may not be a good deal, we really don't know, but that's why it's important to have all parties come forward here. If we're going to do something, we should be discussing that motion first before we move on to other business.
So it would be totally improper to do what Mr. Easter is proposing to do. As Mr. Lemieux said, we've had an order of precedence. They have made motions that they've done on purpose, I think, to just try to bog down the committee. He has a motion on the hog industry. All of a sudden the hog industry to Mr. Easter is not an important topic, I guess. The livestock sector all of a sudden to Mr. Easter is not an important topic.
Noon
Liberal
Wayne Easter Liberal Malpeque, PE
On a point of order, Mr. Chair, I'm asking for a ruling by the clerk on the motion.
Noon
Conservative