Evidence of meeting #37 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was next.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Goodyear
Colleagues, we'll start the meeting. We are in public at this moment, so we'll open the floor to issues.
Mr. Godin, you had your hand up first.
11:35 a.m.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
When a report is endorsed in this manner, must the chair inform the committee, when the meeting is open to the public, that the report has just been adopted?
11:35 a.m.
Bloc
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
Yes, the report must be agreed to at a public session.
11:35 a.m.
NDP
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Goodyear
We can, sure. We've got lots of movers and shakers out there, so you can write down whichever one you want.
Does the committee agree that the report be adopted?
11:35 a.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Goodyear
Does the committee authorize the chair to table the report in the House?
11:35 a.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
11:35 a.m.
Some hon. members
Oh, oh!
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Goodyear
Thank you very much, colleagues.
Monsieur Godin, did you have anything further to bring to the committee?
11:35 a.m.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
I have two comments, Mr. Chairman.
First, at the meeting of December 7, 2006, Ms. Redman mentioned that an investigation was being conducted in Parkdale--High Park, that is in Peggy Nash's riding. A communiqué was sent to the clerk, but it's not up to her to set the record straight. That's our job. It was suggested that I could do that.
Nothing in the way of an investigation was carried out in this riding. No action was initiated. Consequently, the record of the December 7 meeting is inaccurate. I would also like the record to state that no investigation was conducted in the riding of Parkdale--High Park.
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Goodyear
Thank you, Mr. Godin.
I have other colleagues up on this issue. Monsieur Guimond, you are next on my list, but are you okay with allowing Mr. Proulx?
11:35 a.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
On a point of clarification, I stand to be corrected, but could we check one of the visits we had from Mr. Kingsley? Members of the committee brought up different difficult situations that had occurred in the 2006 election, and Mr. Kingsley had committed himself to looking into them. I was under the impression that this was one of the ridings where we had asked him on numerous occasions and then finally he accepted that he was going to look into it. Could we possibly check the transcripts?
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Goodyear
I see no problem doing that, so we will do that. Thank you.
Monsieur Guimond, and then Mr. Owen.
11:35 a.m.
Bloc
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
You wished to comment about another matter.
11:35 a.m.
Bloc
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
I'm curious about one thing. Perhaps James could look into this or enlighten us, if at all possible.
Regarding the readjustment of electoral boundaries, the next decennial census is scheduled for 2011. However, the smaller, less elaborate census can result in certain electoral boundary changes.
I was elected in 1993. I recall that a small census was held in 1996. Decennial censuses were held in 1991 and 2001. Some seats were redistributed in the case of the 1997 election. As my riding had become too populous, I lost a small community of 3,500 or 4,000 individuals. I did not gain any new constituents. I simply lost some.
Obviously, the reality is that with a minority government, there is no way of knowing when the next general election will be held. Nevertheless, this interim census was supposed to have been done in 2006. In the event of an election call, would Elections Canada redistribute some seats on the basis of 2006 census data?
11:35 a.m.
Conservative
11:35 a.m.
James Robertson Committee Researcher
The short answer is no. At present, there is no provision for a census to be conducted on the basis of the quinquennial census in 2006.
After your first election, because the redistribution following the 1991 census had been delayed and legislation had been introduced both by the Mulroney government and later by the Chrétien government, the redistribution based on the 1991 census did not take effect until 1996. Your first election should probably have been under the 1991 figures, but it was still under the 1981 figures. So there was no census redistribution then.
The predecessor of this committee in 1995 recommended, as part of a draft bill, that there be redistribution at five-year intervals if population had changed significantly in a province. That had been a recommendation of the Lortie commission as well, and it was primarily for areas such as Vancouver, Montreal, and Toronto, where there is enormous growth in the suburbs. That bill was never passed. It was included in the subcommittee report, which we have just decided to re-table, and in their response, the then government indicated that it was one of the issues that they would look at. But at present, there is no provision for any changes until after the 2011 census.