I call this meeting to order.
Today we have an order in council appointment before us. Elwin Hermanson has been appointed to the position of chief commissioner of the Canadian Grain Commission.
Welcome, Elwin. It's good to see you.
This is according to Standing Orders 110 and 111. I just want to read into the record off the start, just so we know what the rules are here today, out of Marleau and Montpetit, starting on page 863 on line 447:
The obligation of a witness to answer all questions put by the committee must be balanced against the role that public servants play in providing confidential advice to their Ministers. The role of the public servant has traditionally been viewed in relation to the implementation and administration of government policy, rather than the determination of what that policy should be. Consequently, public servants have been excused from commenting on the policy decisions made by the government. In addition, committees will ordinarily accept the reasons that a public servant gives for declining to answer a specific question or series of questions which involve the giving of a legal opinion, or which may be perceived as a conflict with the witness' responsibility to the Minister, or which is outside of their own area of responsibility or which might affect business transactions.
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Further, when we get to questioning:
...the committee may call the appointee or nominee to appear before it...to answer questions respecting his or her qualifications and competence to perform the duties of the post to which he or she has been appointed or nominated.
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This is on page 876 now:
The scope of a committee's examination of Order-in-Council appointees or nominees is strictly limited to the qualifications and competence to perform the duties of the post. Questioning by members of the committee may be interrupted by the Chair, if it attempts to deal with matters considered irrelevant to the committee's inquiry. Among the areas usually considered to be outside the scope of the committee's study are the political affiliation of the appointee or nominee, contributions to political parties and the nature of the nomination process itself. Any question may be permitted if it can be shown that it relates directly to the appointee's or nominee's ability to do the job. A committee has no power to revoke an appointment or nomination and may only report that they have examined the appointee or nominee and give their judgement as to whether the candidate has the qualifications and competence to perform the duties of the post to which he or she has been appointed or nominated.
I just wanted to make sure we have that on the record and we know what rules we are playing by for today.
With that, I invite Mr. Hermanson to provide his opening comments. Please keep it to less than 10 minutes.
On a point of order, Mr. Easter.