Transport Committee on March 27th, 2014

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

It is a yes or no answer. It doesn't need an explanation—

[Hoang Mai, NDP, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, but to be honest, to be quite frank, I am a bit surprised, and hopefully we'll.... You know, coming from the chair, I think it would be great if it would be less partisan in terms of—

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

It wasn't a partisan thing at all. I wanted clarification. It was a yes or no answer.

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, I find the charge spurious. There was nothing partisan about it. I didn't hear any reference to the Conservative Party or the government or anything else. It was a member asking a particular question.

Second, as somebody who has been on this committee since 2007, I would say it has been a regular practice of the chair to ask questions, not just this chair but previous chairs. Committees are the masters of their own destiny. They can take it in different ways if they choose to. Maybe that's not been your experience with the justice or finance committees, but I can tell you as the ranking member on the committee here, it's been that way since 2007. Chairman Tweed did that quite frequently. You can check the record if you don't take my word on it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

In any committee that I've ever sat on, the chair always has that right for clarification or whatever, or even to ask questions. I don't exercise that right very often. I did today.

Mr. Braid.

[Peter Braid, Conservative, Kitchener—Waterloo, ON]

I was just going to add, Mr. Chair, that in fact you were fully within your rights and discretion as the chair to periodically ask questions. It's been my experience, I might also add, that in committees chaired by opposition members, that right of the chair is fully utilized.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Do you have a point of order, Mr. McGuinty?

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Yes.

Mr. Chair, I also think you have the right to ask questions and probe and carry forward some unfinished business. I think that's absolutely your prerogative, but now that we've opened the door, I think my colleague from the Conservatives said he didn't hear the words “a political party” uttered. Well, at the very last meeting, one of your closing comments to the minister on television was that you had spoken to a senior member of the Liberal caucus, and you were giving testimony, hearsay, about how that member had said to you that they were in favour of a certain policy one way or the other.

That was entirely inappropriate, as I would expect it to be if the chair here were an opposition member, and they made such a reference to a Conservative member. I'd say the same thing. So I think there is a line here and we've opened the door. But I think my colleague is right in saying there's a need for you to exercise judicious tone. You've always been very good at this, Mr. Chair, with great respect, and I mean that sincerely. I just think there have been a couple of occasions recently on which you've perhaps crossed that line.

[Wai Young, Conservative, Vancouver South, BC]

On a point of order, I wanted to say that I did take that as a point of clarification. In fact I had tried to get some of that information from the witness. It was not clear whether or not the report from the Lac-Mégantic accident had been tabled and whether it had been determined that one or two people were required or if that was the root of the issue. So I appreciated your clarification on this.

[The Chair, Conservative, Larry Miller]

Thank you very much for being here today. I appreciate that.

The meeting is adjourned.