Natural Resources Committee on Nov. 27th, 2012

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Mr. McKay, what are you speaking to exactly here?

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

I was just finishing off—

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Are you going to propose another amendment?

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Yes, of course. I wouldn't want to—

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Well, then get on with proposing another amendment.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Okay. Thank you—

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

If you're questioning the chair, you can move a motion to that effect.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

No. I thank you. I thank you, Chair, for your consideration and patience with me.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

On a point of order, given the time—and I made a similar point here a little bit earlier—I think now that we're getting into that amount of time left when the witnesses are not going to be able to make their full presentations because of Mr. McKay's filibuster, what I propose is that we allow the witnesses to leave the table.

Obviously Mr. McKay is not interested in hearing from them today. He wants to continue this, I think, because he just told you he has another amendment, and we know each amendment has a certain time to it. I'm going to suggest that you allow the witnesses to leave the table. Unfortunately they are not going to be able to be heard fully today, but we certainly would be interested in having them come back again. I don't think Mr. Gravelle's motion needs to be put in place for us to invite them back.

We apologize, from this side, that they were not able to make their presentations today. Had we been able to vote on this motion immediately, we certainly would have had a good two hours of visiting with them. Hopefully they can come back another day.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Thank you, Mr. Anderson.

Is there any objection to allowing the witnesses to leave the meeting? The time is running out. We don't have enough time to hear all presentations, or barely enough, I guess, if we went to it right now.

Mr. Julian, do you object to allowing the witnesses to leave?

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Mr. Chair, I think the committee has to apologize to the witnesses.

We raised right at the outset, Mr. Chair, that for the government to bring forward this motion at the beginning and in such a controversial way was something that's—

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

On a point of order, if Mr. Julian wants to continue the debate on this point, that's fine, but I don't hear any objection to allowing the witnesses to go. Why don't we let them go, and then Mr. Julian can continue his debate as well?

[Jamie Nicholls, NDP, Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC]

That's clarifying. That's not a point of order.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Thank you, Mr. Anderson. That's not a point of order, but we want to—

Mr. Julian, are you objecting to allowing the witnesses to leave at this point?

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Absolutely not, Mr. Chair, but what I am saying—

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Then I just want to say that—

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Hold on. Mr. Chair. If I may, I'll complete my comments that Mr. Gravelle put forward a notice of motion. We intend to call the four witnesses back—

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

You can't do that when a motion is being debated, Mr. Julian.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

Mr. Chair, that's a notice of motion to inform committee members.

From what I understand from Mr. Anderson, he has no objection, so we should be able to get that through unanimously.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Okay. Thank you, Mr. Julian.

I would just like to say to all the witnesses that I do apologize and I just—

Are you objecting, Mr. McKay?

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

The issue has been raised. I had my hand up, and Mr. Anderson spoke and Mr. Julian spoke. I had my hand up. I wish to speak to this proposal. May I?

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Unfortunately, I guess I can't have the witnesses dismissed. They'll have to stay around a little longer.

Mr. McKay, go ahead, please.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Possibly you shouldn't presume, Mr. Chair.

I appreciate Mr. Anderson's belated recognition of this witness abuse. It is a pity that an hour and a half ago he didn't recognize that when Mr. Julian first brought up the issue.

You will, I hope, understand the opposition's views on this matter: that this has been an abuse of your time, and an abuse of your time for purely partisan reasons, for no other reason than pure partisanism. This is what goes on with regrettable regularity, and it has rendered Parliament almost dysfunctional.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Mr. McKay, you're not speaking to the motion—

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Notwithstanding that, I would thank you for your time. I look forward to the opportunity to actually ask you substantive questions. Hopefully you will be able to inform this committee of your material.

I apologize that we have wasted your time and your preparation time as well.