Agriculture Committee on Nov. 14th, 2007

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Yes, there is one more motion. We want to make the last one on our list. It deals with minority reports, and I think it's pretty similar to what we had in the past; that is:

That every party shall have the right to attach, as an annex, a dissenting opinion on any report to be presented to the House of Commons by the committee; and that this dissenting opinion shall be submitted to the clerk of the committee within 72 hours of the passing of the report by the committee.

That actually probably puts more structure on it than we had before.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Mr. Martin.

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

For information, what is the current practice, or is there any reference to it in your...?

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

We dealt with it on a case-by-case basis. We didn't have any reference point.

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Mr. Boshcoff.

[Ken Boshcoff, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

First, normally, for the record, regarding the word “annex”, it may be wordsmithing, but I believe Standing Order 108(1)(a) uses the word “appendix” for dissenting opinions. So that's its own question.

We had used a 12- or 24-hour maximum for the passing of the report, and I feel that what we have now works quite fine.

So I'm questioning the need for 72 hours, and I'm questioning the word change.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Mr. Boshcoff, to be clear, we don't have a standing order on this. We've done it on a case-by-case basis here. We haven't had a procedure that we've adopted at committee.

[Ken Boshcoff, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

Okay.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

We've always dealt with it after a report is filed, if there is a minority position that wants to be brought forward.

[Ken Boshcoff, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

That sounds pretty good to me.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

For clarification, the way it's ruled in the Standing Orders of the House of Commons, when standing committees make a report from time to time, “to print a brief appendix”—this is dealing with minority reports—“to any report”—so it's an appendix to the report—“after the signature of the Chair”. So the chair's signature comes on first, and then a minority report is attached.

Are there any other questions?

Mr. Martin.

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

I just ask Mr. Anderson, why the 72 hours? What is the reasoning behind the seemingly arbitrary timeframe that he chose?

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

I didn't choose that. I understood 72 hours has been a fairly regular time that's been put on them. We didn't have one, and I concur with the chair on that, but I think other committees have had 72 hours.

I shouldn't say that. Actually, the Standing Committee on International Trade this morning passed that any member of the committee has the right to attach as an annex a dissenting opinion on any report to be presented to the House of Commons by the committee within the conditions imposed by the committee and in accordance with the Standing Orders of the House of Commons. So that's similar to what we've done in the past.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Mr. Miller.

[Larry Miller, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

On just the last comment, the reason for 72 hours that I would see is that if this report happened to get presented on a Friday—or I should say, if the motion were put forth—you would need 72 hours to get you through to the Monday.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Mr. Bellavance.

[André Bellavance, Bloc, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Once again, I find that we are tying the hands of MPs, whereas, as Ken said, the status quo works just fine. There is flexibility, we work on a case by case basis. Often, the analyst from the Library of Parliament asks us if we want a 20 page or 80 page report, and everything is based upon the committee's wishes. We have never argued over the issue of timelines. The last time the conservatives tabled a minority report, I recall David recounting how many days or how much time we had. I am not recall arguing over the matter. On the contrary, we gave parties the time they needed to present a minority report.

Therefore, I would prefer that we continue working this way, not setting timelines that would tie our hands. We already have enough restrictions as it is.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Okay, are there any other comments?

I'll call the question.

(Motion negatived)

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

That wraps it up.

Is there any other business?

Mr. Miller.

[Larry Miller, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

First, Mr. Chairman, I'd like it duly noted in the minutes that I abstained on the vote on the motion dealing with witnesses' expenses.

Secondly, I want to put a notice of motion here, and I'll read it if it's appropriate, so that I've given the due 48 hours' notice so this can be dealt with at our next meeting:

That the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food request that the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food conduct a full review of all inspection fees charged by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency; and that this information be used by the minister to investigate possible options for the government to deal with the inequity between what Canadian livestock producers and packing plants pay for inspection fees as compared to their counterparts in the United States.

I have it in both official languages. I apologize that I don't have extra copies, but I'm sure the clerk can order some.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

So 48 hours' notice is given.

I have a question before we adjourn. We need to have a steering committee meeting to set the agenda and topic items. We'll do that on Monday at 3:30. The question is, do we want to do it just as the subcommittee, or do we want to do it as a committee of the whole?

Mr. Bellavance.

[André Bellavance, Bloc, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

Are you talking about a subcommittee to prepare the agenda?

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

I mean to prepare the agenda. And my suggestion is that maybe we do it at a committee of the whole, and then everybody can get their debate on and then nobody else--

[André Bellavance, Bloc, Richmond—Arthabaska, QC]

We already do that in subcommittee.