Human Resources Committee on April 23rd, 2009

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

What happened to Montreal?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

It's the same thing. That was part of the eastern trip.

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Is Montreal on as well?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

That is correct. There was going to be Halifax, Moncton, and two days in Montreal, and two days in Toronto as well as the Calgary conference on homelessness.

[Michael Savage, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Thank you for the work you have done, and thanks to our colleagues on the government side, who I'm sure have done some work on it.

My question is this. Is it still possible that we can do the western part of the trip before we break for the summer?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

I do not believe so, because the policy, to my knowledge, has not been changed. They said they would approve this part of the trip. That is what the letter is for. That's why I still sent the letter; it's because we need to have clarification of what's going on.

My take is that they would not approve that part.

[Michael Savage, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

I'd like to have a discussion about that, but we should have it when Tony is here, because Tony is particularly interested in making sure we go north. Maybe we can have that discussion next week when we have more time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Most definitely, I would be happy to do that.

Mr. Lessard, I see that your hand is up. Go ahead, sir.

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

That's fine, Mr. Chairman, you've answered my question. I imagine we can now consider my motion?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Most definitely. Would you like to read the motion again, just so that we are familiar with the motion, and then talk to it?

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Yes, with pleasure, Mr. Chairman.

I'm going to read it again, and then I'll tell you that we are going to suggest an amendment in light of the arguments advanced by Mr. Komarnicki at a previous meeting.

Just before that, I simply want to make sure that this meeting, which concerns this motion, is public. Is it public right now?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

We discussed it, but that was my mistake. We did not go in camera; the meeting is still public.

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The motion reads as follows:

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), that the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities examine the operation and financial support of organizations that apply for the Enabling Accessibility Fund for small or major projects and that the Committee report its observations and recommendations to the House.

Mr. Chairman, we had started the discussion on this motion, but Mr. Komarnicki rightly noted that it was confusing in that it suggested that we were going to study the finances of the organizations proposing projects. However, that is not the purpose. He is entirely right. The idea is to examine the manner in which the funding is granted by the department.

I don't know whether I am right to make an amendment to my motion to correct the point that Mr. Komarnicki raised or whether someone wants to move it. So I'm going to move that we write this: “[...] that the Committee [...] examine the operation and allocation of funding [...]”. Then we would have to delete the words “organizations that apply” and add instead “by the Enabling Accessibility Fund for small or major projects submitted by organizations [...]”. The rest of the motion would remain as is.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Mr. Lessard, do you have that written down so that we can have it provided to the clerk?

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Unfortunately not, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

I would just ask you to repeat it one more time so we can make sure we have it down correctly. That would be great. Go ahead and repeat the amendment again.

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Following the words “[...] that the Committee [...] examine the operation and allocation of funding [...]”, we should delete the words “organizations that apply” and add instead “[...] that is provided by the Enabling Accessibility Fund for small or major projects that are submitted by the organizations [...]”. The rest of the motion would remain as is.

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Instead of the words “organizations that apply [...]”, we would put “[...] that is provided by the Enabling Accessibility Fund for small or major projects that are submitted by the organizations and that the Committee report [...]”. Is that correct?

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

Yes.

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Is everyone clear on what the amendment is? Okay.

Let's now talk about the amendment.

Mr. Komarnicki.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

I see what Mr. Lessard is doing and I think it does address what I had raised then, because it now makes sense of what he wanted to do.

But I want to also do a subamendment to his amendment. Can I do it at this point?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Let's deal with his amendment first. If we're okay with that, then I'll come back to you to add a new amendment. We can only deal with one amendment at a time.

If we're okay with that amendment, and there's no further conversation, I'll call the question.

(Amendment agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

We're now going to go to Mr. Komarnicki on another amendment.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

It's an amendment that would insert after the words, in the second line, “and social development and the status of persons with disabilities” the following words: “following completion of the poverty study and for one meeting”.