Evidence of meeting #1 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Bezan
We have a motion on the table from Mr. Anderson that the proposal....
David.
Conservative
David Anderson Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
I want to just make the point that the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs adopted basically the language that we're suggesting. I can read it to you. Mr. Proulx made the motion:
That the Committee retain, as needed and at the discretion of the Chair, the services of one or more analysts from the Library of Parliament to assist it in its work.
So rather than two sentences there's just one there, but that is the wording that the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs adopted.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Bezan
We're splitting hairs here. We do have a motion on the table.
Is there any further question or debate?
(Motion agreed to)
Conservative
Conservative
Guy Lauzon Conservative Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON
I think I'd like to support the new version of the subcommittee on agenda and procedure. I think it's more representative of the makeup of Parliament and I think it would be advisable to--
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Bezan
Could you read it into the record just so everybody knows what's going on and what we're dealing with? We do have two documents in front of us.
Conservative
Guy Lauzon Conservative Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON
Okay. It reads:
That the Sub-Committee on Agenda and Procedure be composed of the Chair, the two Vice-Chairs, one member of the NDP and one additional member from the Conservatives. Quorum of the Sub-committee shall consist of at least three (3) members one of whom must be from the government. Each member of the subcommittee shall be permitted to have one assistant attend at any meetings of the Sub-Committee on Agenda and Procedure.
I think it just better reflects the makeup of this committee and the makeup of Parliament.
Liberal
Ken Boshcoff Liberal Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I had been under the impression that we were going to go from four members to six members, including the parliamentary secretary, so I'm relieved to not see that in there.
Nonetheless, in terms of the four-member working group, I'm not aware of any problems historically or that this committee encountered in the past year because of it. I would be quite in favour of retaining the existing sentence as it reads with regard to the subcommittee on agenda and procedure, with the chair, two vice-chairs, and a member of the other opposition party.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Bezan
Just for the sake of information--before I give André the floor--I can tell you that it puts me, as chair, in kind of an uncomfortable position of being the chair of the committee and also trying to advocate the government's position.
Liberal
Ken Boshcoff Liberal Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON
I will not accept your resignation at this time, sorry.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Bezan
I'm just saying that's the reason. If I'm to be working here on an impartial basis, the government members should have somebody there advocating their agenda.
Mr. Bellavance.
Bloc
André Bellavance Bloc Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
I must say, James, that we don't really feel for you on this because we know full well that you are also a government member. When the steering committee sits, clearly you're in a position to put forward the Conservative Party's point of view, because you're a member of that party. I agree entirely with Ken. In my opinion, the steering committee has always worked just fine as it is, and I sat on it the whole of the last session. I don't think that there were issues or frictions in the steering committee, on the contrary. We have always got along very well. What's more, whenever there was the slightest problem to be dealt with in committee, if you weren't comfortable, David often was, and he was able to get the government's point of view across.
That's why I agree we should keep the steering committee like it was before.
Conservative
Larry Miller Conservative Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON
I certainly wasn't at any steering committee meetings, because I wasn't on it, and I'm not aware of any problems. But I do know, having chaired a number of things over the years, that it does put the chair in a very....
Basically, a chair most of the time doesn't speak to a motion or an issue. They're there to keep order and to see that the meeting carries on. If you want the chair to do that, basically it takes them away from the other.
The only fear that I would see that the opposition parties would have is if they were outnumbered. The opposition parties still outnumber, if this proposal were in place, the government.
I just think it would make the job easier for the chair. It's not going to necessarily gain us anything, if you look at it from that point.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
The only question I have, James, is that for quorum it says at least three members, one of whom shall be from the government. Does that include the chair?
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
So you would contemplate the chair and two other members; you would count as the government side, then, in that case.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Then the other question I have is that in this committee, does all the work of the planning committee have to be brought back to the main committee to be ratified?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Bezan
We actually don't put it into a motion. We do allow our agenda to be somewhat flexible, because issues pop up and arise from time to time. We do bring back what's recommended so that everybody sees the working plan we lay out for a session, and then we start moving ahead with it. But we never have to put it into a formal motion.
Mr. Steckle.
Liberal
Paul Steckle Liberal Huron—Bruce, ON
We've had various sorts of steering committees. As chair a number of years ago, I know that we had a committee of the whole serve as the steering committee. So we had the whole committee meet to do its planning, and that worked reasonably well.