Evidence of meeting #1 for Agriculture and Agri-Food in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was motions.
A recording is available from Parliament.
The Clerk of the Committee Ms. Aimée Belmore
Honourable members of the committee, I see a quorum.
I must inform members of the committee that the clerk of the committee can only receive motions for the election of the chair. The clerk cannot receive other types of motions, cannot entertain points of order, nor participate in debate.
We will now proceed to the election of the chair.
Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the chair must be a member of the government party.
I am ready to receive motions for the chair.
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
Madam Clerk, reluctantly, I nominate Pat Finnigan, and I say “reluctantly”, reluctantly.
The Clerk
It has been moved by Mr. Drouin that Mr. Finnigan be elected as chair of the committee.
Are there any further motions?
Pursuant to the House order of Wednesday, September 23, I will now proceed to a recorded division unless there is agreement.
Do I see agreement?
I declare the motion carried, and Mr. Pat Finnigan duly elected chair of the committee.
I invite Mr. Finnigan to take the chair.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Thank you, Madam Clerk, and thank you for the confidence of the committee.
Francis, you do have a way with words, and I appreciate it.
Madam Clerk, please proceed with the election of the vice-chairs.
The Clerk
Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the first vice-chair must be a member of the official opposition.
I am prepared to receive motions for the first vice-chair.
The Clerk
I apologize, Ms. Bessette, but it's for the first vice-chair, which must be a member of the official opposition.
Mr. Steinley.
Conservative
The Clerk
Are there any further motions for the first vice-chair?
It has been moved by Mr. Steinley that Ms. Rood be elected as the first vice-chair of the committee.
Pursuant to the House order of Wednesday, September 23, 2020—
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
Pardon me, Madam Clerk. I have a question about how we operate.
I thought that someone was going to nominate me to be second vice-chair.
The Clerk
Currently, we're doing the first vice-chair. The second vice-chair will be in a moment.
Bloc
The Clerk
Okay.
So we can proceed.
For the position of first vice-chair, are there any further motions?
Is there agreement?
Seeing agreement, I declare the motion carried, and Ms. Rood is duly elected first vice-chair of the committee.
Moving on to the position of the second vice-chair, pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the second vice-chair must be a member of an opposition party other than the official opposition.
I'm now prepared to receive motions for the second vice-chair.
The Clerk
Are there any further motions for the position of second vice-chair?
It has been moved by Ms. Bessette that Mr. Perron be elected as second vice-chair of the committee.
Is there agreement?
Seeing agreement, I declare the motion carried, and Mr. Perron duly elected second vice-chair of the committee.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Thank you, Madam Clerk.
I would first like to congratulate the vice-chair, Ms. Rood and the second vice-chair, Mr. Perron.
Now we can go to the routine motions.
Mr. Blois, go ahead.
Liberal
Kody Blois Liberal Kings—Hants, NS
I'd like to move routine motions, which I will read for you.
Analyst services 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.
Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be established and be composed of five (5) members; the Chair, one member from each party; and that the subcommittee work in the spirit of collaboration.
Meeting without a quorum That the Chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive and publish evidence when a quorum is not present, provided that at least four members are present, including two members of the opposition and two members of 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 receive evidence, regardless of whether opposition or government members are present.
Time for opening remarks and questioning of witnesses That witnesses be given ten (10) minutes for their opening statement; that, at the discretion of the Chair, during the questioning of witnesses, there be allocated six (6) minutes for the first questioner of each party in the following order: Conservative Party as follows: Conservative Party, Liberal Party, Bloc Québécois, New Democratic Party. For the second and subsequent rounds, the order and time for questioning be as follows: Conservative Party, five minutes (5), Liberal Party, five minutes (5), Conservative Party, five minutes (5), Liberal Party, five minutes (5), Bloc Québécois, two and a half minutes (2.5), New Democratic Party, two and a half minutes (2.5).
Document distribution That only the clerk of the Committee be authorized to distribute documents to members of the Committee, and only when the documents are available in both official languages and that witnesses be advised accordingly.
Working meals That the clerk of the Committee be authorized to make the necessary arrangements to provide working meals for the Committee and its subcommittees.
Travel, accommodation and living expenses of witnesses That, if requested, reasonable travel, accommodation and living expenses be reimbursed to witnesses not exceeding two (2) representatives per organization; provided that, in exceptional circumstances, payment for more representatives be made at the discretion of the Chair.
Access to in camera meetings That, unless otherwise ordered, each Committee member be allowed to have one staff member at an in camera meeting and that one additional person from each House officer’s office be allowed to be present.
Transcripts of in camera meetings That one copy of the transcript of each in camera meeting be kept in the Committee clerk’s office for consultation by members of the Committee or by their staff.
Notice of motion That a 48 hours notice, interpreted as two nights, shall be required for any substantive motion to be considered by the Committee, unless the substantive motion relates directly to business then under consideration, provided that (1) the notice be filed with the clerk of the Committee no later than 4:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday; that (2) the motion be distributed to members in both official languages by the clerk on the same day the said notice was transmitted if it was received no later than the deadline hour; and that (3) notices received after the deadline hour or on non-business days be deemed to have been received during the next business day; and that when the committee is travelling on official business, no substantive motions may be moved.
Orders of reference from the House respecting bills That, in relation to Orders of Reference from the House respecting Bills, a) the clerk of the Committee shall, upon the committee receiving such an Order of Reference, write to each member who is not a member of a caucus represented on the Committee to invite those members to file with the clerk of the Committee, in both official languages, any amendments to the Bill, which is the subject of the said Order, which they would suggest that the Committee consider; b) suggested amendments filed, pursuant to paragraph a), at least 48 hours prior to the start of clause-by-clause consideration of the Bill to which the amendments relate shall be deemed to be proposed during the said consideration, provided that the Committee may, by motion, vary this deadline in respect of a given Bill; and c) during the clause-by-clause consideration of a Bill, the Chair shall allow a member who filed suggested amendments, pursuant to paragraph a), an opportunity to make brief representations in support of them.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
NDP
Alistair MacGregor NDP Cowichan—Malahat—Langford, BC
Thank you very much, Chair. Off the bat, it's great to see everyone. Welcome to the new members of our committee.
I know there were some discussions among the parties at procedure and House affairs. I think 99% of what was read in is good to go. Some slight amendments were made. Kody has read out all of them so I'll start from the beginning.
If we go to the section that's dealing with the subcommittee on agenda and procedure, my first amendment would be that instead of it saying “each party” it would be “each recognized party”.
The substantive amendment I have to make would be going to the section dealing with the time for opening remarks and questioning for witnesses. Before I move my amendment, let me explain the rationale.
As we know in this committee, we've often lost a lot of time to opening statements. We haven't got around to as many questions as we would have liked. I think we've lost some witness testimony as a result. Following the example that was made at procedure and House affairs committee, I suggest the following amendments to the routine motion that was just proposed.
That first sentence would read, “That witnesses be given five minutes for their opening statements; that whenever possible witnesses provide the committee with their opening statements 72 hours in advance.”
The other amendment I would like to make is in the section dealing with second and subsequent rounds. Here, I'd like the order to be changed so it goes Conservative Party, five minutes; Liberal Party, five minutes; Bloc Québécois, two and half minutes; New Democratic Party, two and half minutes; Conservative Party, five minutes; Liberal Party, five minutes.
That concludes the amendments I want to make. Again, if you're looking for precedents, this was established at procedure and House affairs.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Pat Finnigan
Thank you, Mr. MacGregor.
Go ahead, Mr. Drouin. Is this related to the amendments?
Liberal
Francis Drouin Liberal Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON
No, Mr. Chair, I want to speak to the routine motion. I thought this was a done deal. I don't think we have an issue with Mr. MacGregor. I'm not speaking to the motion.
Merci.
Bloc
Yves Perron Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
I want to talk about the housekeeping motions as well. I believe I will support Mr. MacGregor's amendment, if I am right in understanding that, in the second round, the Conservative Party would have five minutes, the Liberal Party would also have five minutes, the Bloc Québécois would have two and a half minutes, the New Democratic Party would also have two and a half minutes, the Conservative Party would have five minutes and the Liberal Party would have five minutes.
Did I hear what you read earlier correctly, Mr. MacGregor? I might have suggested that we ensure that every party can participate in every round, but it is six of one, half dozen of the other. So I am going to approve this proposal.
