Evidence of meeting #1 for Public Safety and National Security in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was clerk.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Clerk of the Committee  Mr. Roger Préfontaine

4:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Garry Breitkreuz

Okay.

4:25 p.m.

Liberal

Bonnie Brown Liberal Oakville, ON

If you had it in on Friday at 3:30, the first meeting it could appear at would be Tuesday at 3:30.

4:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Garry Breitkreuz

That's right. I'm sure it's been sitting days. I agree with you, Ms. Brown. I'm sure it's been sitting days.

Anyway, go ahead.

4:30 p.m.

Conservative

Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON

I would just offer to you that I don't think this is intended to do anything other than to simply put it into a format. It's like the debate we're having here--everybody has a different interpretation. If we have it written, it becomes pretty clear to everyone.

I think what we're saying there is that there are some different interpretations of what's gone on in other committees, so if we get some of these things in a more uniform format, then everybody understands.

4:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Garry Breitkreuz

Okay, so that difference has been clarified.

Go ahead.

4:30 p.m.

Conservative

Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON

The next one was motions deemed to be abandoned, which is brand new.

4:30 p.m.

Liberal

Sue Barnes Liberal London West, ON

No, absolutely not.

4:30 p.m.

Some hon. members

No.

4:30 p.m.

Conservative

Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON

That's fair.

4:30 p.m.

Liberal

Sue Barnes Liberal London West, ON

It's silly. All you're doing is saying that if you don't deal with it, you have to start all over again. I like the tabling of motions that come up when people feel they need to come up.

4:30 p.m.

Conservative

Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON

The other change here was the speaking order, and I'm sure that people will have opinions about the proposed speaking order that's here. It's somewhat different from what our practice was in the past.

4:30 p.m.

Liberal

Sue Barnes Liberal London West, ON

Where's the counterpart to that in this one?

4:30 p.m.

Conservative

Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON

I didn't see it on the existing one. We did it--

4:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Garry Breitkreuz

It's right here, in number 4. Yes, number 4 is what we used.

4:30 p.m.

Conservative

Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON

Oh, that. I'm sorry.

4:30 p.m.

Liberal

Bonnie Brown Liberal Oakville, ON

It's pretty well the same, as I see it.

4:30 p.m.

Conservative

Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON

No, it isn't.

4:30 p.m.

Liberal

Roy Cullen Liberal Etobicoke North, ON

What about the sequencing going back? Isn't that different?

4:30 p.m.

Conservative

Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON

I think what we did in the past is that we went down that side, then we had one, then it went down and the Bloc had one, and then we got one, right? It was you and the Bloc, and then us....

4:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Garry Breitkreuz

Okay, I'll tell you how it worked, because I had this all memorized.

Every party had seven minutes. The opposition parties had three seven-minute rounds, and then it went to the government for seven minutes.

Then it went to the Liberals for five minutes, then it went over here for five minutes, then it went to the Bloc for five minutes, then it went to the government for five minutes, then it went back to the Liberals for five minutes, then back to the government, and then the final round for the Liberals because you have four on the committee, and then back to the government.

The reason we did it was so that every MP on the committee would get one turn before anybody got two turns. That's how I ran the committee before, and everybody agreed with that. It worked, and I don't want to change it, unless you agree.

4:30 p.m.

Liberal

Bonnie Brown Liberal Oakville, ON

That's good. I like that.

4:30 p.m.

Bloc

Serge Ménard Bloc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC

That one is okay, but you went through the other two a little quickly.

4:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Garry Breitkreuz

Which one do you want to look at?

4:30 p.m.

Bloc

Serge Ménard Bloc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC

I am referring to the motion on the 48-hour notice. You want to add two sitting days. The 48-hour period would mean two sitting days rather than two calendar days? So what do we do if an emergency meeting is convened during the summer? If we submit a motion and two sitting days are needed as notice, what do we do?

4:30 p.m.

Conservative

Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON

It doesn't say two sitting days.