Bill C-2 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) Committee on May 11th, 2006

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Yes, we seem to have forgotten that, but....

[Stephen Owen, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

I'll wind up very quickly.

The Lobbyists Registration Act, which will always be--

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

On a point of order, which was in fact first, I would like to raise the same point. Mr. Owen knows the camera is rolling, so he's taking this opportunity to make yet another speech on the merits of Bill C-2. The motion on the floor is the sitting schedule, so I'd ask the chair to please intervene on relevancy, and let's get down to the question.

[Stephen Owen, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

My only point, Mr. Chair, is to--

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Mr. Chair, I have a point of order.

[Stephen Owen, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

--have us consider this and not consider--

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, you're allowing him to continue with a marathon speech about how the Liberals really didn't do anything wrong, and that's not what we're debating right now. He's giving his revisionist view of history here. He never misses an opportunity to take the camera and give a recitation that nobody really did anything that wrong and this bill is not really necessary, etc. I don't think we should let him hijack this committee repeatedly.

[Stephen Owen, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

I have a point of order, Mr. Chair.

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Actually, there's already a point of order on the floor, and I have the floor.

Now, we have a motion--I have the floor, Ms. Jennings.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

There is a point of order from Mr. Martin.

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

Thank you.

We have a motion on the floor and an amended motion. All I would ask is that in the interests of advancing Bill C-2 in some kind of an orderly way, in a way that we can be proud of, we stop the showboating and the grandstanding and we deal with things in a business-like manner. We have a specific motion on the floor, and it was amended by my colleague from the Bloc with a legitimate amendment, a legitimate point of view. The question was called, and it's not the time for a speech from Mr. Owen about the virtues of the Liberal Party or the merits of Bill C-2.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

You've made a good point of order. I'm going to allow him to continue, but keeping in mind his point of order is right on, then we're going to allow some more debate.

[Stephen Owen, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My point, and I won't go over anything I said previously, is simply to say, let's keep this in proportion to the situation in our country. We're not talking about a national disaster. We have no difficulty continuing work on this important, complex piece of legislation during the summer, but let's not put it out of proportion. The proportion, of course, is not people going golfing in the summer; it's people going back to their constituencies to be able to continue with the other parts of our important work. That being said, this is important, and we will do what's necessary to make sure it gets done in an appropriate period of time.

[A voice]

Hear, hear!

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Mr. Poilievre.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

I'll be very brief. I just want to point out that the status quo for this committee is that there is no plan to adjourn when the House of Commons adjourns. There's nothing in the Standing Orders under the status quo that indicates that we will be adjourning or that our schedule is matched with the House of Commons schedule. The status quo does not give us any limitation on when we will sit, so this motion is more closely aligned with the--

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

A point of order, Ms. Jennings.

[Marlene Jennings, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC]

If my memory serves me correctly, Chair, the other day when a motion was being debated, Mr. Sauvageau attempted to argue the question of what was status quo. You correctly stated that was a decision that would be dealt with once the vote was called and actually took place, because it was a moot question.

So Mr. Poilievre, in my view, is out of order.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

That is not a point of order.

Mr. Poilievre, continue.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

Am I recognized? The status quo does not send us home when the House of Commons goes home. The status quo does not align the schedule of this committee with the schedule of the House of Commons. The status quo is that we have no plans to adjourn. So I would argue that this motion is congruent with the status quo.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

I don't know where you're going on this. You're sort of anticipating a tie vote and I don't.... There's one thing debating the amendment and the motion, but it's quite another anticipating something beyond that, and that's what you're doing. I think you'll have to stop on that.

Does anyone have any comments?

We're voting on the amendment. Madam

Clerk, can we be clear what the amendment is? Or perhaps Mr. Sauvageau could confirm what it is so we know what we're voting on.

[Benoît Sauvageau, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

The amendment reads as follows:

That the committee seek to complete its work on Bill C-2 before the House adjourns for summer recess in late June 2006, and that if that work is not complete, the committee will continue its work until June 30, 2006, and then adjourn until the first Monday in August 2006, which is August 7, if need be, notwithstanding the summer recess.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Okay.

(Amendment negatived)

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

We will now vote on the motion.

[Benoît Sauvageau, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

Mr. Chairman, if I understand the Standing Orders, I cannot ask you to explain your vote?