Evidence of meeting #17 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 meetings.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Yes, that is possible.
Mr. Perron, are you satisfied with this?
It's certainly a possibility to remove August 5. Having a meeting on June 23 would be the only change.
That would in part address your concerns, Mr. Perron.
Conservative
Richard Lehoux Conservative Beauce, QC
Mr. Chair, I would like to clarify something. Ms. Rood's proposal is simple: to enable the report to be adopted as quickly as possible in the House. I think that would be important for all the committee members and it would be relevant to do so.
The meeting was postponed to a later date by the minister and her colleagues. We want to submit a report, so that the minister can read it and propose worthwhile ideas at the October meeting with her colleagues, the provincial ministers. It may be relevant for us to submit the report as quickly as possible. I think that we all agree with Ms. Rood's proposal.
The Clerk
I just want to remind the committee members that they can adopt a committee report, but that they have to remember the discussion we had a few days ago. Unfortunately, at this stage, the committee cannot table any reports in the House. If the committee were to adopt the report on August 19, it would have the satisfaction of having adopted it, but the report would not be made public before it had been tabled in the House.
For the time being, the first report could only be tabled on September 21, unless the situation changes during the summer and the whips negotiate a new agreement that would lead to your committee being able to submit a report electronically to the Clerk of the House during the summer.
I just wanted to mention this, so that we can avoid any potential confusion among committee members. Even if you adopt the report during the summer, you will not be able to table it, unless otherwise specified.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Thank you. That's certainly a valid point. The earliest we can table the report in the House is September 21.
We've added some flexibility. We've put an extra meeting in June and removed the one in August that Mr. Perron was a bit concerned about. I know it's not 100% exactly what you want.
Ms. Rood.
Conservative
Lianne Rood Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
If we add the meeting in June, the meeting on July 10 is not necessary, because we're moving up those meetings. The only necessary meeting is July 8, according to the schedule, to give drafting instructions. If we remove the 10th, there's no reason we shouldn't have the August 5 meeting. If we remove the August 5, we're removing two meetings according to the schedule.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
We need that meeting to fulfill the six BRM meetings that we must hold to fulfill our motion on the BRM when it was first brought up.
Effectively, it would remove the August 5 meeting and then just push everything back. We'd be at an even stage, because we've replaced the August 5 meeting with June 23 from the original calendar.
Are we okay with that, with June 23 and we remove the August 5 meeting? That gives us a bit of a stretch there. We can't please everyone, but is that acceptable to all?
Conservative
Richard Lehoux Conservative Beauce, QC
Mr. Chair, since we have dithered a lot on the topic of the schedule, could you go over the dates you want us to vote on, please?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Mr. Lehoux, we will draft the schedule properly, and I will get back to you on that within a minute, as a number of changes have been made. I will then read it, so that everyone can understand our schedule for the summer.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
This is what it should look like: June 23, BRM; July 8, BRM and drafting, so half is BRM; and August. That would make up our six meetings at that stage. August 19 would be the next meeting, when we would have version one; September 2, version two; and hopefully we don't need it, but September 16, version three.
That's how it looks now, from what I was able to gather, to make sure we have the six BRM meetings that we have in our motion.
Conservative
Lianne Rood Conservative Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON
Then, Mr. Chair, are we missing July 10 and August 5?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
That's right. We have July 8 and no July 10, right? Just hang on. Let me double-check that.
Ms. Rood, the reason we skipped July 10 is that it wouldn't give the analyst enough time to come up with the first version.
Does everybody have this? I'll forward it to you in a clean draft. I think that would work, and it will accommodate some of the concerns of different members.
Can we live with that?
I see no one raising their hand, so this is what we're going to go with. Again, if we have to, we'll change it. At least it secures our place with the whips to make sure we have logistics there so we can get those meetings on.
That is all I have. I don't know if there's anything else you want to talk about, but it's Friday evening, and we can call it a day.
I want to thank every one of you. We'll see you next week. Thanks.
The meeting is adjourned.