Evidence of meeting #1 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was last.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:05 a.m.
The Clerk of the Committee Ms. Bibiane Ouellette
Honourable members of the committee, I see a quorum. We can proceed to the election of the chair.
I am ready to receive motions to that effect. Do I have a motion for the chair of the committee?
9:05 a.m.
The Clerk
Are there any other motions?
Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
9:05 a.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
9:05 a.m.
The Clerk
(Motion agreed to)
I declare the motion carried, and Mervin Tweed the duly elected chair of the committee.
Before inviting Mr. Tweed to take the chair, if the committee wishes, we will now proceed to the election of the vice-chairs.
Do I have a motion for the first vice-chair from the official opposition?
9:05 a.m.
Conservative
9:05 a.m.
The Clerk
Are there any other nominations?
9:05 a.m.
The Clerk
Since we have two nominations, we will have a secret ballot.
Since more than one candidate has been nominated, pursuant to Standing Order 106, I am authorized to preside the election of the vice-chair by secret ballot.
Before proceeding, I will briefly explain how the process will be conducted. Were there any other motions, or only the two motions?
9:05 a.m.
The Clerk
From the official opposition.
9:05 a.m.
The Clerk
My colleague, who is a procedural clerk with the House of Commons, will pass on each side of the table to issue ballots to members. After members have clearly written their choices by writing the first and last name on the ballot and have deposited it in the box, we will count the votes and announce the result.
If no candidate receives a majority of the votes, I will conduct another ballot. That's what we're doing for the vice-chairs.
I declare Mr. Joe Volpe to have received a majority of the votes; therefore, Mr. Joe Volpe is elected first vice-chair of the committee.
I am now prepared to receive motions for second vice-chair. This individual must be a member of an opposition party other than the official opposition.
9:10 a.m.
The Clerk
Do I have any other motions?
Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
9:10 a.m.
The Clerk
I declare
Mr. Laframboise duly elected second vice-chair of the committee.
I now invite Mervin Tweed to take the chair.
9:10 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair (Mr. Mervin Tweed (Brandon—Souris, CPC)) Conservative Merv Tweed
Thank you, everyone, for your kind support in giving me the honour of being the chair. And congratulations to our vice-chairs.
I think in this initial meeting there isn't a whole lot of business as far as the agenda is concerned.
Mr. Masse, I know you're new, and I think the one thing we tried to establish the last time was how we would proceed in the general meetings as far as order of questioning is concerned. I don't know if you're familiar with that at all, Brian, but I guess we do have routine motions that we can go through. Or if everybody was happy the last time.... There may be some changes they want to make. But basically what we did was have a 10-minute presentation by our guests and then a round of questioning for seven minutes, seven minutes, seven minutes, and seven minutes, and then five, five, and five until everybody had a chance to ask a round of questions.
Mr. Volpe.
9:10 a.m.
Liberal
Joe Volpe Liberal Eglinton—Lawrence, ON
I just want one little bit of clarification, because as you'll recall, I came to the committee late in the last session.
After you've done your first round of seven minutes and you go to five minutes and five minutes, you're ensuring that the members of the official opposition, the opposition, and the NDP, or others, get a chance to speak. Is that it?
9:10 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
Yes. Basically we would have one, one, one, and one until everybody's had a chance, and then we'd open the floor if there's still time.
I do have a list of the routine motions. If you want to go through them one by one, that's probably the best way of doing this, and we can establish them, or we can agree that what we did the last time was satisfactory.
The first one talks about the analysts from the Library of Parliament. We talked about the subcommittee, where the procedure would be to have the chair and the two vice-chairs....
Mr. Masse.
9:10 a.m.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm curious, but I don't see on here the second and the third and the fourth rounds. Has it been the tradition of this committee to have witnesses within one hour or an hour and a half? I guess it depends upon what you're doing at that time, but I'd like to see what the second, third, and the fourth round order is.
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
Okay. I can tell you--and we can certainly provide it to you in writing--we do try to ensure that everybody, opposition-wise, has a chance to speak. So it would go Liberal, Bloc, NDP, Conservative, for seven minutes. Then we would go Liberal, Bloc, Conservative. Then we would go Liberal, Conservative; and Liberal, Conservative; and then we would open the floor if there's time.
So what we do is let everyone get a seven-minute round.
9:15 a.m.
NDP
Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON
Right.
My concern is with getting a second round of questioning. In all of the committees I've participated in here, they have always given us the opportunity to have a second round of questioning at some point in time, and that's what I would request happens, with due respect.
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
Actually, you would have that. You would have the first seven-minute round going to your party, and then you would get the third five-minute round.
Would he not?
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
No, that isn't the way we did it the last time, and I would look to the committee for direction on this.
Mr. Volpe.
