Industry Committee on Nov. 29th, 2012

[Kennedy Stewart, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

I just did.

[Gary Goodyear, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

We appreciate quality research in this country.

[Kennedy Stewart, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

Right.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Mr. Harris, you have two minutes.

[Dan Harris, NDP, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Minister, for being here today.

Following up on some of these questions, obviously there's some dispute about the number of job losses. Earlier, you mentioned that the transformation of the NRC is ongoing and that we'll be informed about the outcomes after the fact, which, as a member, I find to be a little backwards.

You alluded to some full-time reductions, so my question, very simply, is, do you think it's appropriate for members of Parliament to be voting on a budget without knowing what personnel reductions and service-level impacts there are going to be in that budget—yes or no?

[Gary Goodyear, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

I'm not sure I understand the question. Are you talking—

[Dan Harris, NDP, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Do you think it's appropriate for members—

[Gary Goodyear, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

—about the NRC or the budget?

[Dan Harris, NDP, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

All of the above: do you think it's appropriate for us to be voting on these issues without knowing at what level the impacts are going to be?

[Gary Goodyear, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

Well, you're not voting on the transformation of the NRC. You were asked to vote on the doubling of IRAP within the NRC, and you voted “no” on that, so if you're not going to fund these sorts of programs, I would expect that job losses would be tremendously higher. I voted “yes” for the funding, protecting a lot of jobs.

[Dan Harris, NDP, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

That's fine, Minister, if you don't want to say whether it's appropriate or not to vote before we know what the level of reductions or service-level impacts are....

As a result, at this time, Mr. Chair, I feel the necessity to introduce a motion: that the Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology ask the Minister of Industry, the Minister of State for Science and Technology, and the Minister of State for Small Business and Tourism to undertake to the committee to release information to the Parliamentary Budget Officer that the Parliamentary Budget Officer has requested on the cuts in their departments.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Mr. Harris, at the moment we're talking about supplementary estimates and the particular votes, so this would not be business that's germane to that. You could certainly move that motion, but that would require 48 hours' notice.

[Dan Harris, NDP, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Well, Mr. Chair, I believe this motion is in order because it does relate directly to the business under consideration. We're supposed to be voting on the estimates. In order to make a proper vote on the estimates, we need to know, as members of Parliament, what personnel reductions and service-level impacts there are for the departments.

I would simply like to note at this time that, with respect to the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, the NRC, NSERC, and the SSHRC, and even with respect to the ministers who were here before, with ACOA, Industry Canada, and the Canadian Space Agency, only one of all of those agencies I've mentioned has actually provided the Parliamentary Budget Officer with what the personnel reductions and service-level impacts are for their departments in this budget.

On that note, I would actually like to congratulate the Canadian Space Agency for being the only people to have provided that information to the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

I don't think it's appropriate for us to vote until we have that information.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you, Mr. Harris, but my ruling stands on that issue. If you want to give 48 hours’ notice on that, you can certainly move it at our next meeting.

You're open to challenging the chair, if you wish. But you will need to do that very quickly, as our time is draining.

[Dan Harris, NDP, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

I think we'll have to challenge the chair on that.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

All right.

Those in favour of sustaining the chair?

[Dan Harris, NDP, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

We'd like a recorded vote.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

The clerk will call the names.

(Ruling of the chair sustained [See Minutes of Proceedings])

The result is clear. The chair's ruling is sustained.

Thank you very much, Minister Goodyear, for your testimony.

Thank you very much, colleagues.

[Gary Goodyear, Conservative, Cambridge, ON]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Next week, if all things remain as they are in the chamber, we'll be considering the draft report from our previous study.

The meeting is adjourned.