Afghanistan Committee on April 15th, 2008

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

No, we have some confusion. It's number six.

[The Chair, Conservative, Pierre Lemieux]

Oh, I'm sorry; it's my mistake. You're right, it's number six. Thank you for the clarification. I'll be taking remedial math right after this meeting.

Is there any discussion on the NDP filling slot six?

All in favour of the amendment, please signify.

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

I have a point.

[The Chair, Conservative, Pierre Lemieux]

Mr. Obhrai, you're 30 seconds behind us. What's up?

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

After the last one, with the Conservatives, is it done, or should we have more time?

[The Chair, Conservative, Pierre Lemieux]

It's a valid question. Oftentimes we can go past two rounds of questioning; we can move into a third and a fourth round.

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

I would say it should be on the same basis as the second round.

[The Chair, Conservative, Pierre Lemieux]

We start over then?

All right. We'll draw a line after the NDP and we'll just recycle that list.

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

I just want to go on record, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Conservative, Pierre Lemieux]

Yes, Mr. Rae.

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

I think we should conduct ourselves in a completely fair and collegial way in this committee. I don't think any of us is going to deny a space to anybody else. I think we should try to be constructive and get on with it. I'm certainly not going to exclude a member from asking a question.

[The Chair, Conservative, Pierre Lemieux]

It's a good point, and I think we are working in a collegial manner. But it is good to map it out, because we never know what witnesses will be in front of us and what the tone of the meeting will be—hopefully always positive. I think it's fair to map it out.

What we've done is add the NDP to position six. We've removed “Conservative, Liberal, Conservative” at the very end, because we'll just recycle up to the top and come back down.

[Laurie Hawn, Conservative, Edmonton Centre, AB]

So are we going back to the top of round two?

[The Chair, Conservative, Pierre Lemieux]

Yes, round two.

On the amendment, all in favour, please signify.

(Amendment agreed to)

All in favour of the motion as amended, please signify.

Yes, Mr. Patry.

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

I have just one comment about the last wording. It says that “ten (1) minutes be allocated to each questioner”. It's “to each party”, because we could divide our time between two members.

[The Chair, Conservative, Pierre Lemieux]

Yes, right there it says “to each questioner of each party”.

Oh yes, I understand: if you split your time. That's fair; we'll take out the words “each questioner of”.

Is there any discussion on that point?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Pierre Lemieux]

Okay, we have consensus on that, so that's done.

(Motion as amended agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

[The Chair, Conservative, Pierre Lemieux]

All right, we've put all that in motion. We have a subcommittee in place.

My recommendation would be first of all to thank you all, once again, for having selected me as chair, and secondly, for having worked so well at this first, opening meeting.

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

I have just one point, Mr. Chairman.

The foreign affairs committee is just completing its study on Afghanistan. Its report is coming down. As much as possible, I think, we want to make sure there's no duplication or overlap of our work and theirs. I think it's important for us to be working with that committee. I know that some of the staff will overlap, but it's important for us to take advantage of the work of that committee and not simply go back to square one. The same thing is true of the defence committee's work.

We just need to figure out what's been done. That will then help us to establish our agenda. I certainly have no intention of duplicating the work that's been done by the foreign affairs committee or the work that's been done by the defence committee.

The steering committee can look at that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Pierre Lemieux]

It's a good point. We're going to be working cooperatively amongst ourselves but also with other committees, and we don't want to duplicate work. I think we do want to move forward in a constructive fashion, so that is a good point.

Ms. Boucher.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Will the first official meeting of this magnificent committee be held next Wednesday or when we get back after the break?

[Bob Rae, Liberal, Toronto Centre, ON]

In spite of everything that we read in the papers.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

In spite of everything that we are going through...

[The Chair, Conservative, Pierre Lemieux]

I think we want to have a subcommittee meeting first. In order to have the subcommittee meeting, I would recommend that our second official meeting of the Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan be the Wednesday right after the break. That would give us an opportunity to meet as a subcommittee and to put forward recommendations.

Monsieur Bachand.