Evidence of meeting #7 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 forbes.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Richard Lehoux Conservative Beauce, QC
Yes. Ms. Rood put it nicely. We must be able to hear from some of the witnesses again. I'm also a new parliamentarian. We must have the opportunity to make recommendations, rather than merely listening to people just for the sake of listening to them.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Thank you, Mr. Lehoux.
You certainly have the option of inviting the witnesses you want. Regarding the recommendations, as we've said, that matter is beyond our control. Perhaps this will change, but right now, this is the extent of our mandate.
Are there other questions?
Go ahead, Mr. Blois.
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
Mr. Chair, I believe we have the ability to strike a subcommittee of one representative from each of the parties along with, I believe, you and perhaps the clerk of the committee. In relation to themes and some of the witnesses and other ancillary issues that have been raised, I would recommend that this be handled offline, outside of this forum, to help expedite our process.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Mr. Chair, I don't know whether I'm the only one, but I don't have any audio.
NDP
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Sorry, that's what was going on.
No, we're not allowed to move any motions. We didn't have a subcommittee structured from the start, so we're not allowed to have any motions or anything else, but right now the only thing we have to deal with is witness scheduling. That's all we have.
That's not to say that.... You can call me and I can call you and we can all talk about things, but we cannot adopt or do anything as a subcommittee officially. Again, my line is open if you want to talk about different things. We're very tightly limited as to what we're allowed to do, and that's basically to talk about COVID-19 issues dealing with agriculture, and that's pretty much it.
Monsieur Perron.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
At that point, perhaps we could take the same approach as in the House. We could try to resolve the issue and reach an agreement before we come to the committee. This would save us from wasting time in negotiations—I was about to say “dilly-dallying”—and allow more time for witnesses. We could then make things official.
Are we allowed to do this, Mr. Chair? You said that we could call you to come to an agreement.
Liberal
Bloc
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
To make things official, everything must be sent to the clerk so that the clerk can prepare the list of witnesses, the groups of witnesses, and the schedule of their appearances. These are the only things that we can control.
However, I don't have any issue with us speaking to each other. You can simply call me or email me to discuss any other matter. I'm always available.
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
Mr. Chair, I want to say that we don't have any issue with meeting informally outside the two hours of the committee meeting to discuss the choice of witnesses. May 25 will come quickly. We agree to not discuss these choices in the committee, but instead to discuss them informally with all committee members. If the other parties agree with this proposal, we can then give the necessary instructions to our committee clerk and to the analysts.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Everyone will receive the list of suggested witnesses. You'll see that the witnesses suggested by the Conservatives could be the same as our witnesses, or vice versa. Personally, I don't have any issue with discussing the order of appearance of witnesses in conference calls, Zoom video conferences or chats, if you want. I think that we're allowed to do so.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
If our discussion is informal, will we still have the right to interpretation?
The Clerk
I think that it would be possible. However, the interpretation won't be simultaneous, but consecutive. In other words, it won't take place while you're speaking, but after you've finished speaking.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Before the end of the week, we could hold a conference call and invite interpreters. We could then discuss a variety of topics without taking up committee meeting time. I could ask my assistant to organize this, if you'd like.
Mr. MacGregor, would you be available?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Okay, I can try to set it up.
What's the best time? Is it morning, afternoon or evening?
Mr. MacGregor, of course, you represent your party, and Monsieur Perron as well.
I don't know who would be the Conservative lead. Does anybody want to volunteer to represent the Conservative Party?
Conservative
John Barlow Conservative Foothills, AB
Yes, I will, Mr. Chair. I don't know that days of the week matter anymore, or the time of day, so we'll make whatever it is work.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
We'll try not to wake you up too early in the morning, John and Alistair.
Okay, so we have all four parties. I'll try to set it up before our next meeting. Again, we have to submit our final list on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. I'll try to do it beforehand and we can negotiate some witnesses.
Does that work?
