Industry Committee on Nov. 18th, 2010

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to meeting 45 of the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology.

We have witnesses before us, but Monsieur Bouchard has notified me of a motion that's germane to our meeting that he wants to introduce right now.

Go ahead, Monsieur Bouchard.

[Robert Bouchard, Bloc, Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Before hearing from the witnesses, I would like to present a motion. I believe there was some confusion. Mr. Gaston Carrière, president of local 142 of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, was supposed to have been asked to appear this morning. According to information I obtained, we apparently invited Mr. Coles, the national president, instead.

Mr. Carrière was prepared. Since he expected to be asked to appear, he made preparations. He learned yesterday that he would not be coming. This is why I would like to present a motion. It reads:

That the committee invite Mr. Gaston Carrière, president of local 142 of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada at the AbitibiBowater plant in Gatineau, as part of the review of Bill C-501.

I therefore table this motion. I hope that my colleagues here and opposite, the members of the Conservative Party, will understand that this man had been informed—I don't know whether it was by the clerk or someone else—and prepared himself. According to the information I obtained, there was apparently some confusion and someone else—Mr. Coles—was asked to appear.

This is why I'm asking you to respect the steps we took to invite Mr. Gaston Carrière to appear.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you, Monsieur Bouchard.

I have two points. I want to make sure the clerk doesn't shoulder more responsibility than she already has. I'm certain it was not her issue. She had invited the witness, and the invitation was passed on, so we do have a witness here from the Forest Products Association of Canada.

Of course, witnesses and such are germane to our business at hand, but I would caution that right now we have four witnesses before us and we have six in the next panel. We have quite a roundup.

Mr. Lake, did you want to speak to this?

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB]

I have a quick question.

Am I correct in understanding that we already have someone coming from that organization at a later meeting as a witness?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

No, we have somebody here today. It is Mr. Casey.

We already have one representative coming from the organization on November 23, and this would be an additional representative.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB]

We won't have two witnesses appearing separately from the same organization. We have witnesses from organizations that haven't even been invited to appear or haven't had the opportunity to appear before the committee. We have four witnesses here who are scheduled to appear. We can't add a witness for an organization that's already scheduled to appear at a later date. If we start going down that road, there's no end to where that goes in the atmosphere that we're in, in a minority Parliament.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Is there any other comment?

Go ahead, Mr. Rafferty.

[John Rafferty, NDP, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

I'll provide a bit of a clarification. First of all, the Forest Products of Canada Association is a lobby group, and not CEP. That's so there's no confusion as to those two organizations.

Second, I'm not exactly clear as to who was invited and who wasn't. I know we want to get on with the witnesses we have here right now, but was it an internal CEP decision for someone else to come? I don't know.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

I believe that the invitation was passed on, and the person who was initially supposed to be invited was subsequently contacted, and then this person said they wanted to come.

Go ahead, Mr. McTeague.

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

I have no problem supporting the motion, given that there was a misunderstanding somewhere along the way. I'm not pointing the finger at anyone. So we'll agree to it.

We have already gone over our seven minutes. In those seven minutes, someone else could have testified. The objection has been heard. It was a mistake and we accept it.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Mr. Cardin, the floor is yours.

[Serge Cardin, Bloc, Sherbrooke, QC]

I have nothing to add to what the last speaker said. But I want to make sure that Mr. Carrière is invited to a future meeting, especially since I don't know if the next witnesses will be representatives from the AbitibiBowater plant and from its union. We need to make sure.

To avoid any confusion, we need to invite Mr. Carrière to a future session.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Is there any other debate?

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB]

I'm not even sure what we're--

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

We're talking about the date. It would be November 23, Mr. Lake.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB]

So that's the other witness from the same organization?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

That's correct.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB]

So the motion is that he would appear with them, then, at that meeting. They can bring whomever they want at the meeting on November 23. If they want to add the third person to their contingent at the meeting on the 23rd, of course we have no problem with that.

[An hon. member]

He doesn't need a motion.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB]

No, he doesn't need a motion to do that. The organization can bring whomever they want, right?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

To be specific, Mr. Lake, I think one is from management and one is from labour.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB]

They're from a union, though. They're from a union, both of them. It's the same union.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

I was not aware of that. I thought it was different unions.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB]

No, no. The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union is coming here on the 23rd, and they want to appear today as well.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

I'm sorry; I just heard the differentiation. One is a national rep and one is a local rep. That's the difference.