Veterans Affairs Committee on Oct. 29th, 2013

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

We are now into an open meeting, and Mr. Gill has the floor.

[Parm Gill, Conservative, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, I have two motions that I want to put forward, and I'd like to put the first one. I'll read it out and put in on the record. I do ask for unanimous consent for the committee to debate this motion now, please.

The motion is that in an effort to educate new members and existing members of our committee on how our government has made substantial investment, totalling almost $5 billion new dollars since 2006, the committee therefore call as witnesses officials from the Department of Veterans Affairs to appear on November 7, 2013. During this meeting, members will be able to question officials on each and every facet of the Veterans Affairs $3.6 billion of programs, benefits, and services, which the ombudsman himself noted as significant.

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

Thank you, Mr. Gill.

Mr. Karygiannis.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Mr. Chair, I believe the parliamentary secretary said he had two motions. I think that was one. Was I mistaken?

[Parm Gill, Conservative, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

That's the first one, and once we deal with this, I have another one to propose.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Chair, if I'm not mistaken, I think the rules of the committee are that we have to give 48 hours' notice in order for it to be discussed. That has to be to the clerk. That's number one.

Number two, I find the parliamentary secretary's motion, if you want to call it a motion, a little bit loaded, on the government side, as a PR exercise.

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

Mr. Karygiannis, a member can't dictate to another member how to word his motion.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Mr. Chair, I'm expressing an opinion. I'm not dictating; I'm expressing an opinion.

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

One member has presented a motion, and in that motion he's actually asking if he can have the consent to do this. I think the best way to deal with this is to ask if there is consent.

Is there unanimous consent?

There is not unanimous consent, so that deals with that.

Mr. Hawn.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

I would support Mr. Karygiannis. Should we not be discussing this motion? I can agree or disagree with what he said, but....

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

There can be a discussion if there is consent of the committee to do so. But there is this awkward little thing called 48 hours' notice. In order to set aside the 48 hours' notice, we can count on the goodwill of the committee to give unanimous consent. I asked for it, it didn't happen, so we're moving on to the next.

[Bryan Hayes, Conservative, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Can we have a recorded vote on the unanimous consent, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

I will ask the clerk to do so.

We're calling a vote.

[See Minutes of Proceedings]

There is no consent. That was my understanding.

That doesn't kill the discussion, but it kills the discussion for now.

[An hon. member]

Mr. Chair, he has an amendment.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Can I make an amendment?

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

No, it's finished. You voted against the discussion, so there is no discussion.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Chair, if I may, on a point of order, I was speaking. You cut me off. You called a vote. You did not give me an opportunity, if I wanted to add something as a friendly amendment to his motion.

I just want to state that for the record.

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

Mr. Stoffer.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

With great respect to my colleague, you can't move an amendment to a motion if a motion is not being discussed. You have to have unanimous consent to forego the 48 hours. Unanimous consent wasn't given, so you can't move any amendments, discussions, or anything until next Tuesday. That's it. We go to the next one now.

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

Thank you, Mr. Stoffer.

Mr. Gill.

[Parm Gill, Conservative, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have a motion that reads as follows: that pursuant to the government's commitment to commemorate the enormous sacrifices made by Canadians and our allies, and given that last year members from all parties paid tribute and remembered those who lost their lives in the service of Canada at a similar ceremony at the National War Memorial, in place of our committee's planned meeting on November 5, we shall instead invite our colleagues who sit in the other place and all our caucus members to attend a special remembrance ceremony at the National War Memorial on November 5 at 11 a.m.

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

Mr. Stoffer.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

That is something I agree with, without question. The only concern, of course, is that November 5 is the next time this committee will meet, if I'm not mistaken. Am I correct on that? Next Tuesday is November 5?

[The Chair, Conservative, Royal Galipeau]

Yes.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

If it's okay with you guys, if we met at 10 o'clock to do the committee business that we have with these motions and then we scooted over there at 11, I guess it would be appropriate. Could we get consent from the committee to add an extra hour before, from 10 to 11, to deal with the work we have to do? That way we're not losing a full day to do this.

Then, on November 7, your motion won't fit any more. It would have to go to the next one, and then we're moving into Christmastime. If the parliamentary secretary and my Liberal colleague agree that we have the meeting at 10 to do our business and then move over there, I think that would be very appropriate. This is a very good motion.