Transport Committee on Dec. 5th, 2006

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

I was advising the committee that due to circumstances, not all people are available tomorrow night for the infrastructure debate that we want to have.

Is it the will of committee to continue with this, since we have allotted the time?

[Andy Scott, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

Who do you want to get?

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

I'm not sure of the names.

[Andy Scott, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

But we don't have what we need.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Yes.

[Andy Scott, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

Okay.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

It was a timing thing. They've been available for the last two weeks, but it didn't work out.

I would ask the committee to consider it, and we could make that decision before we leave.

We're now going to clause 13.

(On clause 13)

The last time we were reviewing clause 13, we were in the middle of an amendment proposed by Mr. McGuinty. It's amendment L-2, on page 14 in your program, reference number 2512388.

Mr. McGuinty, do you want to briefly address this again?

Do we have a comment from the department on this clause? Was there information? I'm not sure if there was information to be gathered.

Mr. Jean.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

I'm not sure if I mentioned it last time, but the government is certainly proposing somewhat of a compromise, since we're so compromising: “that the minister shall make public” the guidelines on information relating to the public interest and that they shall be issued and published.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

If you're making that amendment, I would ask you to circulate it.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

I am. I indeed have a proposal here.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

We'll debate the subamendment and then the amendment.

Mr. McGuinty, go ahead.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Mr. Chair, one of the reasons we pushed this aside and set it aside was that although it was sent out by you on November 2, 2006, members had not received the Competition Bureau's submission on Bill C-11. I think we distributed it at the last meeting.The clerk made copies available.

Before moving any subamendment, I'd certainly like to treat the merits of this serious brief that was put forward. This was put forward in the absence of knowledge of even Transport Canada officials. I'm not sure why it would happen, but it did.

It might be useful for us to examine some of the merits of the concerns raised by the Competition Bureau. It was the thing that struck me when I first read the M and A section, the mergers and acquisition section, of the bill.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

I am also going to distribute this for the committee—and I apologize, since it was just completed with the translation early this afternoon. Basically it's a review of the recommendations.

Because of the lateness, we may want to put this one on the back burner, so everyone can review it. It's a summary of the report that was presented, which I asked our analyst to do for us.

Mr. McGuinty.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

In the interest of time—we have roughly five minutes left this afternoon—I'm wondering whether we should put this aside or possibly even adjourn.

It's in the hands of the committee, but I would strongly suggest that each of us take a serious read of the entire brief. It would really help us understand what we can and cannot do here, in order to get it right.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

All right, if that's the will of the committee.

What is being circulated is a review and an overview of what was in that submission...for our next meeting.

Mr. Laframboise, do you have a comment?

[Mario Laframboise, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

Yes. I read the brief that was tabled by the Commissioner of Competition. Personally, I am prepared to vote. However, if you wish to withdraw your amendment or if you would like to change it, then please go ahead. I am prepared to vote, I have no problem with it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Mr. Julian.

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

I will leave that to Mr. McGuinty. I would have preferred to continue with the clause-by-clause study. We are moving backwards.

I read the brief that was circulated, but, of course, this is a new motion by the government; this is something new. We should at least take a few minutes to compare the texts. We have a duty to do that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

I look for the direction of the committee.

I accept Mr. Laframboise's point of view, that everyone was provided with the document. I've had an opportunity to read it and also ask for a review, so I felt comfortable with it.

Mr. McGuinty.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Sorry, Mr. Chair, I haven't read this document by Allison Padova.

Was the request made—

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

It was made by me.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

I understand.

Was the request made to distill or interpret what was put forward by Sheridan Scott?

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

I would say distill.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Are there any other comments?

Mr. Laframboise.