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.