Evidence of meeting #2 for Bill C-30 (39th Parliament, 1st Session) in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was witnesses.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
And in the week prior to that, the week of the 12th, would that be sitting during our break? Is the 12th the break?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Laurie Hawn
There's a two-week break from March 3 to March 18, which is Saturday to Sunday.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Laurie Hawn
If I can, I just suggest again that the flexibility is inherent within the committee. If things are going more quickly, you can get further ahead. If things are going less quickly, obviously you have the flexibility to go longer.
Mr. Godfrey.
Liberal
John Godfrey Liberal Don Valley West, ON
It would be admirable to be doing clause-by-clause by March 19, but that doesn't quite satisfy the suggestion of Mr. Warawa and Mr. Manning, which was that we have to leave ourselves with flexibility should things develop such that we would need to add witnesses not for the sake of adding witnesses, but.... We can aim to do that, but let's not lock ourselves in so that, even if we're not ready for it, we have to do clause-by-clause.
We can put it down as the intention, but I'm just trying to respect what these gentlemen have said in terms of being flexible when we do our survey at the end of the month to see where we are.
Conservative
Mark Warawa Conservative Langley, BC
Mr. Chair, just to clarify my comments on flexibility, I am willing—and I am sure every member of my party is willing—to work as long and as hard as necessary, but there has to be a target. That target, as suggested by Mr. Jean, is that we be done with the witnesses and begin clause-by-clause no later than March 19.
That comes from a suggestion by Mr. Bigras—and I think it was a good one—that we attempt to finish with the witnesses in time for that two-week March break. That then gives us those two weeks to digest what we've heard and to prepare for clause-by-clause. That was the recommendation, and I think it was a good one.
Within those timeframes, we have to be flexible. I'm suggesting that if we need to meet late into the evening, I would be willing to do that. But we still have to complete testimony and start the clause-by-clause no later than March 19.
It provides closure. It provides evidence that this committee takes climate change seriously and that we are going to act on it. And hopefully no members would be perceived as trying to stall this process.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
The flexibility that we do have is that we have about 200 hours—the two break weeks in March—and I'm sure all members of this committee would be happy to sit through those break weeks in order for us to start the clause-by-clause on March 19. So we have lots of flexibility. We have no other committees meeting during those two weeks, so I'm sure all Canadians would expect us to get it done by that time.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
In the spirit of the conciliatory nature that has overtaken the committee, Chair, I think we can look at extending the witness list.
Clearly, in my first outline that we suggested we had these two weeks of witnesses. We will consider extending that another two weeks and are willing to take that on in terms of workload and the rest, but the amendment I seek is that we report back to the House by March 19.
I hear the comments of the committee, but I believe we need to report back to the House by March 19.
Chair, allow me this. First of all, that's settling on a much less aggressive witness list. We can propose up to five meetings. We just heard from the clerk on the availability of time. There is ample time. To allow that number of weeks with five meetings per week, with potentially four or five witnesses per panel.... That's an extraordinary number of witnesses, and more than we thought originally.
We're making concessions in allowing the committee to live up to what we've just said, which is that we're willing to do the heavy lifting. We've all heard the quips. We've all made them ourselves. Let's do it, then, and report back on March 19.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
I have no concept of why not, considering it's accommodating exactly what I've heard from both the Bloc and the Liberals in terms of the need to expand the witness list. I did, okay? Let's allow more witnesses and allow more meetings. Let's do the work and let's get it back.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Laurie Hawn
We'll need to dispense with the motions on the floor right now, unless you want to withdraw those motions.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
The concession I've just made is the motion I'd like us to consider.
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Laurie Hawn
Could you restate the motion? And I expect there will be a bit of discussion on that.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Laurie Hawn
The clerk is just going to check the dates with you so we're all clear.
We're just going to suspend for a couple of minutes while the motion is written out.
If there are targets set, there are targets, but there's still flexibility.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Laurie Hawn
The meeting is reconvened.
I'll get the clerk to read the new motion, as proposed by Mr. Cullen.
The Clerk
Okay. The first section remains the same, week one being a finalized process, a witness list, departmental officials, the minister, and all that stuff.
Weeks two to four now would be from February 5 to March 2, and then it would say “...and the committee continue to sit during the adjournment from March 5 to 16 for clause-by-clause, and that the committee report back to the House no later than March 19.”
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
I'm just wondering why we have to put in that we would sit to do clause-by-clause during the break week if we already have to have it finished and reported back to the House by March 19. It goes without saying that we will sit until it's done. It was implicit in what you said that you would like to see clause-by-clause done beforehand and in fact reported back to the House beforehand.
I would just say no later than March 19 for that, and that we will sit until it's done.