Foreign Affairs Committee on Dec. 13th, 2006

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Good afternoon, committee. It's good to see each one of you on perhaps this final day of the 39th session.

This is the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, meeting 37. Pursuant to the order of reference of Wednesday, September 20, 2006, we have Bill C-293, an act respecting the provision of development assistance abroad. We are going to continue in the exercise of clause-by-clause in the hopes that we will finish this afternoon.

Welcome.

We will proceed to amendment NDP-7 on clause 3, and I will ask Madam McDonough to begin. Basically, amendment NDP-7 is the deletion of lines 14 to 19 on page 2, the definition of “non-governmental organization”.

Madam McDonough, would you like to explain that?

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Just as you said, Mr. Chair, the amendment is that Bill C-293 in clause 3 be amended by deleting lines 14 to 19 on page 2. This simply deletes the definition of “non-governmental organization” and replaces it with a new amendment that defines “civil society”.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Which we have already done.

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Yes. We sort of ended up going back, and now we're going forward again. Hopefully everybody remembers that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Yes, this is basically a consequential amendment to the deletion of part of the bill yesterday.

Are there any other comments on this?

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

So moved.

(Amendment agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

We will proceed to amendment NDP-4.1.

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Do you mean on clause 4?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

It's on clause 3. It's a new amendment that has just been brought forward. I don't know if you have a reference number there. The reference number is 2600145.

Madam McDonough.

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

This proposes that Bill C-293 in clause 3 be amended by deleting lines 4 to 7 on page 2. It's simply removing the old definition because we've already replaced it with a new definition.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

All right. So moved then.

(Amendment agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Okay. Because of that, then, we have Madam McDonough on reference 2599864, another new amendment that's been brought forward. This is consequential. It replaces “development assistance” with “official development assistance” in all of the following provisions.

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Do you want me to read it into the record? I don't need to?

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

No. Well, okay.

[Alexa McDonough, NDP, Halifax, NS]

Okay.

I move that Bill C-293 be amended by replacing “development assistance” with “official development assistance” in the following provisions: (a) through (i)--which I think everybody has in front of them.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

All right.

Mr. Patry.

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

Thank you. I agree with clauses 1, 2, and 3, but we didn't finish clauses 4, 6, 7, and 9. Maybe it depends....You want to change it everywhere.

I agree in a sense, but I would like to not accept clause 3 right now and see if we need to come back because of some definitions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

All right.

(Amendment agreed to) [See Minutes of Proceedings]

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

We have amended clause 3 now. This is where I would normally ask, “Shall clause 3 carry as amended?”

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

I disagree with this for the moment, because I have another question on clause 3.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

All right.

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

We didn't look at the definition of international agency.

In French, it is on page 1.

It says “any intergovernmental organization“. (...) However, a governmental organization can also be an international agency.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

So your concern is on page 1.

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

It's on page 1 in French, and page 2 in English on line 8 in the definitions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Mr. McKay.