Evidence of meeting #1 for Justice and Human Rights in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
8:50 a.m.
The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Jean-François Pagé
Honourable members of the committee,
I see a quorum.
I must inform members that the clerk of the committee can only receive motions for the election of the chair.
The clerk cannot receive other types of motions and cannot entertain points of order or participate in debate.
We can now proceed to the election of the chair.
Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the chair must be a member of the government party. I am ready to receive motions for the chair.
8:50 a.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
Mr. Clerk, I move that Dave MacKenzie be elected chair of this committee.
8:50 a.m.
The Clerk
It has been moved that Dave MacKenzie be elected chair of the committee.
Are there any further motions?
Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
I declare the motion carried and Mr. MacKenzie duly elected chair of the committee.
8:50 a.m.
Some hon. members
Hear, hear!
8:50 a.m.
The Chair
Before inviting Mr. MacKenzie to take the chair, if the committee wishes we will now proceed to the election of the vice-chairs.
8:50 a.m.
The Clerk
Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the first vice-chair must be a member of the official opposition.
I am now prepared to receive motions for the first vice-chair.
8:50 a.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
I move that Joe Comartin be elected first vice-chair.
8:50 a.m.
The Clerk
It has been moved by Brian Jean that Mr. Comartin be elected as first vice-chair of the committee.
Are there any further motions?
Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
I declare the motion carried and Mr. Comartin duly elected first vice-chair of the committee.
8:50 a.m.
Some hon. members
Hear, hear!
8:50 a.m.
The Clerk
Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the second vice-chair must be a member of an opposition party other than the official opposition.
I am now prepared to received motions for the second vice-chair.
Mr. Hsu.
8:50 a.m.
Liberal
8:50 a.m.
The Clerk
It has been moved by Mr. Hsu that Mr. Cotler be elected in absentia as second vice-chair of the committee.
Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
I declare the motion carried and Mr. Cotler duly elected second vice-chair of the committee.
8:50 a.m.
Some hon. members
Hear, hear!
8:50 a.m.
The clerk
I now invite Mr. MacKenzie to take the chair.
8:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dave MacKenzie
This being the first meeting of the justice committee for the 41st Parliament, I want to thank you for the honour of serving as your chair. I look forward to working with everyone.
I think in the 41st Parliament the committees will function in a different manner from what they did in the 40th Parliament. Certainly I look forward to that, and I think Canadians look forward to the change in the tone of the committees.
The very first order of business is the routine motions, the business of the committee.
Mr. Jean.
8:55 a.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
Mr. Chair, in following up with what you mentioned, I have a motion in relation to routine motions to be adopted before discussion. I was wondering if I could make that motion now, if that would be appropriate.
8:55 a.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
I have four changes, Mr. Chair, to the proposals for the routine motions, which people should have in front of them.
This is further in the interest of fairness and democracy. Since each of us received a clear mandate from the people of Canada, in each constituency, I think it would be reasonable to suggest that each member should have the same amount of time to ask witnesses questions before anybody has a second turn.
In the spirit of that, what I've first of all suggested for the subcommittee on agenda and procedure is that it be amended as follows: that the subcommittee on agenda and procedure be composed of five members, including the chair, the two vice-chairs, and both parliamentary secretaries.
The reason I have suggested that instead of a Conservative Party member is that I think both parliamentary secretaries, since they have good communication with the department and the minister's office, will better facilitate communication between the membership and the steering committee, and therefore generally we'll have a more focused agenda. That would the first change I would suggest.
The second change would be on page 2: that in camera meetings be transcribed, and that the transcription be kept with the clerk of the committee for later consultation by members of the committee.
It says “members of Parliament”, but clearly in camera meetings should be kept confidential, and this means it would not be.
Yes, Mr. Chair.
8:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Dave MacKenzie
The document that was placed before us says exactly what you're suggesting.
8:55 a.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
That's great. I have a draft from yesterday, but I just wanted to mention that. Thank you.
The second is under rounds of questioning: that the witnesses from any organization shall be allowed up to--so that would be inserted--10 minutes to make their opening statement; during the questioning of witnesses, there shall be allocated five minutes for the first round of questioning; and thereafter five minutes shall be allocated to each questioner in the second and subsequent rounds of questioning.
Therefore, it would be equally split among all members, since we all received an equal mandate from the people of Canada.
And then finally, in relation to speaking order, the motion is that the order of questions for the first round of questioning shall be as follows: NDP, Conservative, Liberal, Conservative. Questioning during the second round shall alternate between the government members and opposition members in the following fashion: NDP, Conservative, NDP, Conservative, NDP, Conservative, Conservative, based on the principle that each committee member should have a full opportunity to question the witnesses; and if time permits, further rounds shall repeat the pattern of the first two at the discretion of the chair.
Obviously, this would give the Liberals an opportunity to have an additional round, since they have a single member. But it would certainly, to my mind, fulfill our mandate in a proper democracy of having each member properly represent his or her constituency.
8:55 a.m.
NDP
Joe Comartin NDP Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
I think this was the intent of Mr. Jean's motion. But with regard to the in camera transcripts and accessibility to them--and we're going to run into this in this committee fairly soon--I'm thinking, in particular, of the study on organized crime that was under way by the committee in the last Parliament. Some of the meetings were held in camera because some of the witnesses were concerned about their own personal safety. I just want it to be clear that the members of this committee now, as opposed to only the members of the committee in the last Parliament, are included in this, so that it's not restricted to the committee members at the time the transcript was taken. And I think Mr. Jean would agree with this.
9 a.m.
Conservative
9 a.m.
NDP
Joe Comartin NDP Windsor—Tecumseh, ON
The only other point I will make with regard to the change in the rotation is that in fact that was the way the committee functioned for at least the last three years. The justice committee functioned with that kind of rotation--that is, with everyone getting a chance--although we did have seven minutes for the first round. I don't have a problem changing that.
