Agriculture Committee on Feb. 18th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Okay.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I am sure our friend from the Bloc will agree that we should take a block vote on these motions.

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

I usually do agree.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

That's my mistake. I thought it was another motion. We're talking about the same thing.

Okay. As you can see in the document, I think these are basically similar to what we had the last time. I can give you the exact details of the last ones if you wish, but these are very similar, and I think they're very close to how many committees operate. Do you have any questions or comments?

Mr. MacGregor.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

I have a slight amendment to the quorum section if you're entertaining amendments right now, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Yes. Go ahead.

[Alistair MacGregor, NDP, Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC]

It's about the fact that our committee now has three opposition parties. Under “Reduced Quorum”, mention is made of “one member of the opposition and one member of the government”. Given that there are three opposition parties, to which one of us would it fall?

I would like to make a slight amendment to the wording. I'll read it into the record. The new motion would read:

That the Chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive and publish evidence when a quorum is not present, provided that at least four (4) members are present, including two (2) members from the opposition and two (2) members from the government; and that in the case of previously scheduled meetings taking place outside of the Parliamentary Precinct, the Committee members in attendance be required to wait for 15 minutes following the designated start of the meeting before they may proceed to hear witnesses and hear evidence, regardless of whether opposition or government members are present.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Is there discussion or are there any comments on the proposed motion?

Mr. Drouin.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Yes. We're okay with that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Are there any other questions or comments? No?

We have to vote on the amendment to the motion first. If everybody agrees, then we won't have to revert to the original motion.

Is it the will of the committee to accept the amendment?

(Amendment agreed to)

(Motion as amended agreed to)

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Okay. We'll go with that.

Mr. Perron, do you have a question?

[Yves Perron, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

Yes; it's a technical question.

In the copy I had, the part that concerned the members was in a shaded area. I wasn't sure whether this was part of the routine motions. Now it is included. This means that if independent members were to sit, this part would apply.

Mr. Drouin, you are suggesting that we adopt these motions as a whole. Is that correct?

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Are there any other comments or questions on the routine motions that have been presented?

We're all good? Okay. With that, are we ready to adopt the routine motions as presented and amended?

(Motions agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

That's good.

Within the routine motions, we also have this one:

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.

I would invite the analysts to take their chairs. We have three analysts.

There is one we know quite well. I want to welcome you all.

The analysts provide such great work. They're here to record everything, and when we have a study, they come up with a draft. They're fantastic people, and I really admire the work they perform for us. We appreciate having them here.

I would also like to introduce the clerk.

Could you introduce yourself?

[The Clerk]

My name is Aimée Belmore. I am the clerk of the committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

You also have an assistant, correct?

[Erica Pereira, Committee Researcher]

My name is Eric Pereira. I'm the clerk of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. I'm just here as support today.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

I'll just say that they are here at the service of everyone if you have any questions. They're non-partisan. They're here to help the committee carry out its business.

So, never hesitate to contact the analysts or the clerk.

That completes the agenda as far as housekeeping issues go, but we can entertain any discussion that you want to carry on. We usually have two hours. I'm open to any discussion.

Go ahead.

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I have one comment, Mr. Chair, and it's in the spirit of time that I'm saying this. I would seek the advice of my colleagues on the other side.

The international trade committee recently passed motions, and I'm assuming you will be getting a letter fairly shortly, with regard to clauses 44, 46, 53 and 59 of CUSMA. They require us to have a report or a letter back to the committee by four o'clock on Tuesday.

Does this committee want to have witnesses appear in a short time frame on Thursday or do we want to just not respond and let the international trade committee carry the brunt of CUSMA? I'm asking committee members what their thoughts are.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

I guess this is our only chance if we want to have any input—

[Francis Drouin, Liberal, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Well—

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

—but anyway, I'll let members comment on this.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Yes. For us, obviously we would want to take a look at it. Most of us have already read it, but we've certainly had feedback from stakeholders who want us to do our due diligence, and I think that's one this committee's roles. When these types of things come through and do have an impact on agriculture and agri-food, it falls upon us to give them a review.

I agree with Francis that it doesn't give us a ton of time, but at least it's a meeting for us to have a discussion. I know that all of us could get a couple of witnesses who are here on the precinct. My suggestion would be that the witnesses should be ones who have not already presented at the trade committee so that we're not duplicating already covered territory. I'm assuming that we could easily get the witness list of the trade committee, but for us, I suggest that we meet on Thursday to discuss the new agreement, the new NAFTA, and its impact on agriculture, for two hours, with maybe six witnesses. We can have that discussion.

[The Chair, Liberal, Pat Finnigan]

Yes. Just to book the witnesses, time is of the essence for sure. Do we want to also have government witnesses? It's up to the committee as to whom we want to have.