Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) Committee on Dec. 14th, 2006

[The Chair, Conservative, Laurie Hawn]

That is a friendly amendment.

It would read: “That, unless otherwise ordered, each committee member be allowed to be accompanied by one staff member at an in camera meeting, plus one member from each party whip's office.”

(Amendment agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Laurie Hawn]

Now we're going to vote on the motion as amended. It is the same wording.

(Motion as amended agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Laurie Hawn]

We have one more.

It reads: “That amendments to Bill C-30 be submitted to the clerk of the committee 48 hours prior to clause-by-clause consideration.”

Do we have a mover? It is Mr. Warawa.

I expect we have some discussion. Monsieur Bigras has an amendment.

[Bernard Bigras, Bloc, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

I wish to move an amendment. I move that after the words "clause-by-clause", the words "without precluding the possibility of tabling additional amendments during the meeting" be added.

I believe that it should be possible to table amendments to a bill while we are considering it. Of course, the majority of amendments will be proposed in a given motion. The objective is to not delay the work of the committee, but sometimes, following exchanges, it may be interesting to have the possibility of presenting amendments during the actual meeting underway.

[The Chair, Conservative, Laurie Hawn]

Is there any discussion on the amendment? No discussion.

Would you read the wording again, please?

[The Clerk]

The amended motion would read as follows: That amendments to Bill C-30 be submitted to the clerk of the Committee 48 hours prior to clause-by-clause consideration, without precluding the possibility of tabling supplementary amendments during the meeting underway.

(Amendment agreed to)

(Motion as amended agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Laurie Hawn]

That's the end of the routine motions. Are there any other motions?

Ms. Redman.

[Karen Redman, Liberal, Kitchener Centre, ON]

I think it should be other business, and not a motion, Mr. Chair.

It would seem to me that the first point of work for this committee would be to hear from witnesses, and I'm wondering if we could collectively decide on when each of the parties would get their list of witnesses to the clerk for consideration.

I recognize that the House has recessed and we have Christmas. I'm wondering if mid-January—say January 15, just to arbitrarily pull a date out of the air—for us to all have our lists in of people we would see appearing as witnesses would give the clerk enough time to look at duplications and crossovers and then maybe set forward an agenda for us.

[The Chair, Conservative, Laurie Hawn]

Mr. Jean.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Mr. Cullen was actually next.

[The Chair, Conservative, Laurie Hawn]

Oh, I'm sorry. Mr. Cullen.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Yes, I'm comfortable with that consideration. I would also suggest that we, as a committee, gather prior to the House resitting. I think some dates have gone around to various committee members. There was an initial proposal of the 16th or the 22nd or the 23rd as some potential dates to have those witness lists in front of us and to set the calendar out so that we can get at this quickly.

[The Chair, Conservative, Laurie Hawn]

To meet to discuss the witness lists and whatever else.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

The witness list and the process. I think there are a few process questions we're going to have around there as well.

[The Chair, Conservative, Laurie Hawn]

Mr. Jean.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

I was just going to mention I think that's a great idea. I'm not available until at least the 22nd and I think we've actually got a caucus meeting on the 23rd and 24th here in Ottawa, so any time after that would probably be okay. I would say later on in the month, and I would actually propose that the witness list be the 20th, simply because of other commitments that, unfortunately, I have.

[The Chair, Conservative, Laurie Hawn]

That's a Saturday.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

The 22nd is a Monday.

[The Chair, Conservative, Laurie Hawn]

Mr. Godfrey.

[John Godfrey, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

Mr. Chair, unfortunately, on January 22, 23, and 24 we're in a caucus meeting, which is both here and in Quebec City, so that won't work for us. Is there any chance of later in the week of the 15th?

[Bernard Bigras, Bloc, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

No, we have caucus.

[John Godfrey, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

When is your caucus? It's on the 24th, 25th , and 26th? Well, that week's shot, isn't it?

[The Chair, Conservative, Laurie Hawn]

Mr. Bigras.

[Bernard Bigras, Bloc, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

Our agenda is quite full. We can perhaps set a deadline for sending our list of possible witnesses. It is quite obvious that this will only happen when we return from our break. In any case, the holidays are approaching. We cannot presume that we will begin our work immediately on the 7th. There are difficulties.

If we set aside a solid month to draw up our list, become familiar with the bill and think about the types of witnesses we can invite, we could send our list to the clerk in the month of January and begin planning our meetings when we return from the parliamentary break.

[A voice]

By which date?