Industry Committee on Oct. 26th, 2006

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

No. I'm ready to come to an amicable agreement, even though the clerk did say that as a rule, provision is made for this in the motion and we neglected to see to it this time. Seriously, if the report is a page long, then the minority report should be no more than a quarter or half a page long. It's ludicrous for the minority report to be longer than the main report. I'm willing to go along with a half-page minority report. It's not included in the motion, but we'll go along with tabling it in this fashion. I don't have a problem with that.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Okay, thank you.

We'll go to Mr. Carrie.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

I want to assure the member that it's not going to be any length at all. Basically it's just our objection to the motion and our clarification as to why.

[A voice]

No problem.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

As the chair is from western Canada, and we're very brief and laconic, I could offer to edit the report.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Mr. Masse.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

I have a comment, Mr. Chair, to make the parliamentary secretary aware that if they want to put their position on record for that reason, this might actually relate to debate, because depending on that report will be the clarification that's going to be necessary during the three hours of potential debate.

I'm just raising a practical point of what could transpire, and I have no objection to whatever length of report the government wants to put. That's fine.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Mr. Masse, would you care to join the Bloc Québécois.

[An hon. member]

The Ontario Bloc.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Okay.

Mr. Masse, the clerk informs me that as with most reports, a dissenting report is not part of the report. It's appended at the end of the report.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

But it's tabled as well?

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

It's tabled as well; you're correct.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

And read in the House of Commons.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

So I sense there's a consensus on this? Do I have a consensus?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Mr. McTeague.

[Dan McTeague, Liberal, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Chair, this is not to do with this motion. If you would find it acceptable, I just want to ask a question on the liaison committee group with respect to travel. I'm willing to hear others, but I do need to speak to this as an item before we end.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Okay.

Are there any other members who have any discussions further to...?

Monsieur Crête.

[Paul Crête, Bloc, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Earlier, Mr. Carrie called for the vote. We voted. Mr. Arthur had asked to speak prior to that time, but the vote was called. That's why I wanted... However, since it's 4:15 and we have time remaining, and since Mr. Arthur wishes to comment on the substantive question, I have no objections. He could provide some insight into how we should conduct this study that we've agreed to have and report back, no later than March 1.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Monsieur Arthur, the floor is yours, if you want it.

[André Arthur, Independent, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

It's kind of you, Mr. Crête to allow me the opportunity to comment on this matter. A newly elected Member of Parliament may have some preconceived notions but not the same level of experience that you have acquired over the years. We still harbour some illusions, including the hope of presenting some convincing arguments that rise above mere partisanship, especially when one sits as an Independent. That's why I asked to speak to this topic. I was hoping to convince you to be exceedingly cautious in the face of certain arguments put forward by some of the witnesses, because although they claimed to be speaking as individuals, they were not really acting independently. There is a history in the CRTC environment of having people who can't say no do the dirty work.

I certainly can't sway you one way or the other as far as the motion on the table is concerned, since the vote has taken place and everything has been settled. Thank you, though, for your overture. I will simply abstain from commenting. I may have thought that I could convince you to change your mind, but I see now that that's impossible. So, I won't waste your time.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Okay, Monsieur Arthur. Thank you.

There being no further comments on this issue, we'll now proceed to other business.

We'll proceed to the travel item. Mr. McTeague, perhaps you can speak to this.

[Dan McTeague, Liberal, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Chair, I've had an opportunity to speak to my whip, and the only concern was with respect to the liaison committee not having had a chance to look at this yet. I just want to know and to highlight for you whether or not you've had an opportunity to raise this, in your own right, as chair of the committee, so that our own whips are aware of it, other than the anecdotal information I'm giving to them that we'd like to travel. Have you spoken to the liaison committee yet?

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

I have only talked informally with my whip about this, indicating to him the time period during which we want to travel. I don't know what other parties have done.

There has not been a liaison committee meeting since we last had this discussion, and what we're waiting for, first, is some specific recommendation from committee members that we can itemize exactly what we're going to do; then we would have the clerk lay out the respective costs, and then I would go to the liaison committee.

On the timing of that, if we could do this by next week, I know that's quite ambitious.

Basically, we're just looking for direction from the committee.

I know, Mr. McTeague, that you submitted a fair amount of detail.