Evidence of meeting #23 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was report.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Mr. Arthur, you can now have the floor if you want it. I mean, I certainly indicated to you that you would be able to address.
4:05 p.m.
Independent
4:05 p.m.
Independent
André Arthur Independent Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
And our day is done. The reason we were meeting is finished.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
Colin Carrie Conservative Oshawa, ON
Mr. Chair, I would ask that we have a dissenting report. Would that be appropriate?
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Members, may I please have your attention?
Because this is technically a report....
October 26th, 2006 / 4:05 p.m.
The Clerk of the Committee
Mr. Chair, through you to the committee, it is perfectly within the power of the committee, if it wishes, to allow a dissenting or a supplementary opinion to be appended after the chair's signature after the report.
Generally provisions are made as to the length that will be allowed. If it is the committee's will to append a dissenting opinion after the signature after the report, the committee is perfectly within its right to do so.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
4:05 p.m.
The Clerk
Mr. Chair, through you to the committee, all I'm saying is that committees generally try to decide how long a dissenting opinion will be, especially if the report is very small.
4:05 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Okay. Mr. Carrie is requesting a dissenting report of approximately two pages. Size 12 font?
4:05 p.m.
Some hon. members
Oh, oh!
4:05 p.m.
A voice
D'accord.
4:10 p.m.
Bloc
Paul Crête Bloc Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
No.
Mr. Chairman, according to the Standing Orders, a brief report must be presented. Therefore, it should be shorter than the main report.
When we've presented reports in the past, opposition parties submitted two-page reports, whereas the majority report could be 50, 75 or 100 pages long. We have prepared a report that is no more than a page long. I could always cut that down to three or five sentences, if that's what he wants. But seriously....
4:10 p.m.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Just a point of order on clarification of process.
We already had the concluding vote, and I thought we actually discussed dissenting reports prior to votes and to reports being made.
I'm wondering whether this is entirely out of order, because my recollection of dissenting reports and the process has always been that this was part of what was constructed in the final vote—and there was understanding of what would be done prior to that report being brought forth.
4:10 p.m.
The Clerk
Mr. Chair, through you to the committee again, what I mentioned was that generally when you're adopting the motions regarding the reports, provisions are made for this before the final report is adopted. But it's not out of order, if the committee wishes to do so.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
4:10 p.m.
NDP
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Perhaps as the chair, could I get a clarification from Monsieur Crête?
Is it the dissenting report in principle, or is it the size of the dissenting report that you're concerned about?