Evidence of meeting #15 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was local.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Are there any questions or discussion on the motion? I don't see any hands raised.
It will be a recorded vote.
(Amendment agreed to: yeas 11; nays 0)
Mr. Barlow, you have one more, I believe.
4:10 p.m.
Conservative
John Barlow Conservative Foothills, AB
Thanks, everybody. You're troopers. I move:
That, with regard to the Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food, the committee send for a copy of all documents with respect to the government’s closure of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) District Office in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, prior to the end of October 2020, with details on the following: (a) job losses resulting from the closure, (b) economic impact of the closure on Northern Alberta and Saskatchewan, (c) impact on current or future related research projects, (d) expected cost-savings from the closure, (e) the closure’s absence from the CFIA’s 2020-21 Departmental Plan; (f) other CFIA office closures expected over the next five years, (g) CFIA offices closed since October 2015; that the documents be provided to the committee in both official languages by Wednesday, July 1, 2020, provided that the Department does its assessment and vetting in gathering and releasing the documents as it would be done through the access to information process.
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Thank you, Mr. Barlow.
Are there any comments or discussion on the motion?
It will be a recorded vote.
(Amendment agreed to: yeas 11; nays 0)
That was the last one, right, Mr. Barlow?
4:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Thank you.
Please indulge me for a few more minutes for next week's business.
The minister has agreed to appear before the committee on supplementary estimates A at our next scheduled meeting on Wednesday, June 10. Following that, we'll move back into our BRM study.
Also, we need to take some time, and I was looking at taking an hour next Friday. We need to provide instructions to the analysts as to what to include within the letter on BRM the committee wishes to draft. My understanding is that the deadline to submit one is before July 3.
I believe we also have to discuss other matters such as the extension and scheduling.
That is all I have on this, unless there are any questions.
I guess it's about formatting the letter. We want to think over the whole format and how we would draft that so we can give instructions to the analysts.
Mr. Bialais, do you need instructions today?
June 5th, 2020 / 4:15 p.m.
Corentin Bialais Committee Researcher
With respect to the instructions regarding the content of the letter, we can wait until we meet in camera. However, we want to know whether there are more specific instructions regarding the format.
I'll give you an example. Normally, letters are two or three pages long. We provide the highlights of what we heard in the testimony, and we add a few observations and recommendations. This type of format is easy to do quickly. However, if you want us to add a summary of the testimony or a list of recommendations, we'll need to do more work. It would be better if we could know this today.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Does anyone want to comment on the type of format? We can let our analyst know.
4:15 p.m.
Bloc
4:15 p.m.
Committee Researcher
I will use the example of the letter we wrote for the agreement with the United States. It was a two or three-page letter, and we were able to draft it quickly.
In our experience, some committees have already tried something else. That can require more work. We simply want to make sure that this type of a request can be made. If that is the case, we would like to know it today.
4:15 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
I will finish my remarks. I do not object to the format. I am more worried about the content. A lot of things can be said in three or four pages concisely and in such a way as to obtain consensus.
4:15 p.m.
Conservative
John Barlow Conservative Foothills, AB
I'm not too concerned with the format either; I think it's the content, just the summary of what we've heard from witnesses, which I think is fairly consistent with their position on the impact COVID has had on their operations, the assistance that they're looking for and positions on business risk management. Maybe break it down into four or five specific topics with a summary of the testimony we've had, which I think would be fairly easy.
I'm not too worried about the format necessarily. I think it just has to be an executive summary of what we've heard thus far.
4:15 p.m.
Committee Researcher
Can you confirm when you would like us to meet concerning instructions on the substance of the letter?
4:15 p.m.
Committee Researcher
Friday would be late. Given the number of meetings left, we should look into this as soon as next week.
4:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
If the vice-chairs agree, we could hold an informal meeting to provide the analyst with some information, so that he can prepare the letter. Do you agree?
It's mostly a matter of time, and I can reach out to you next week if you like.
4:15 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
The only constraint is interpretation. It may be easier to extend the next meeting.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
4:20 p.m.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
We could cut 30 minutes from the period reserved for officials and extend the meeting by 30 minutes, which would give us one hour. That's just a suggestion.