Bill C-31 (40th Parliament, 2nd Session) Committee on Dec. 7th, 2009

[The Chair, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I see a quorum, so I'm going to call this meeting to order. This meeting has been called pursuant to Standing Order 113(3), which requires a legislative committee to meet within two sitting days of the adoption of the membership report.

By establishing a quorum and meeting today, we have complied with the standing order. Therefore, if it is the will of the committee, we can do basically one of three things.

We can simply adjourn until the call of the chair, fulfill the standing orders, and come back to this subject after the Christmas break.

We can pick a specified date for our next meeting.

Or we can consider some committee business, such as a timetable for future meetings, routine motions, and get into issues such as witness selection, deadlines, and whatnot.

I'll gauge the will of the committee as to how much they'd like to actually get into today.

Mr. Moore.

[Rob Moore, Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

Congratulations, Chair, on being chair and already raising the decorum of this place.

I think we probably don't want to get into specific witnesses too much. I'm hopeful that we can obviously have a good hearing on this bill. Three or so meetings on it would be my thought.

We could perhaps talk about what day would be good for people to meet. I know it's always hard to get a consensus. As I look around the table, I see that most of us are on the justice committee, which meets Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., if that helps.

If we could at least establish that, it would be great.

[The Chair, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Further to that point, since you brought it up, I have a bit of a roster of which times during the week members of this committee have available based on their current assignments to other committees. In coming back after the Christmas break, the Monday and Wednesday slot from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. appears to be the only slot that all members of this legislative committee have.

After the Christmas holidays, the committee would meet on Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in January, February—

[Daniel Petit, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

Do you mean in January?

[The Chair, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

When we return from the break.

[Daniel Petit, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

We're back on the 24th or 25th, correct?

[The Chair, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Yes, on January 25.

[Daniel Petit, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

That's a Monday. Will we be having a meeting that week?

[The Chair, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

That is for the committee to decide. I'm only talking about members' free time slots.

[Daniel Petit, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

I understand.

[The Chair, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Go ahead, Mr. Lemay.

[Marc Lemay, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

As far as you know, Mr. Chair, at what time will the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights be meeting in January? We're not exactly next door.

[The Chair, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

As far as I know at this time, that committee would be meeting on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

[Marc Lemay, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

I see.

What about the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development?

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

The time slots allocated to all committees have changed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

After the holidays, all of the committee schedules are changing.

[Marc Lemay, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

What about the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development?

[The Chair, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. time slot on Mondays and Wednesdays is the only available slot for members of this committee. However, it is up to the committee to decide whether it wants to have one or two meetings per week. That is not the chair's call.

Go ahead, Mr. Moore.

[Rob Moore, Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

Mr. Chair, as I mentioned, I certainly don't think this is going to take weeks to go through. It's one bill. Most of us are probably familiar with the contents. I'm hopeful that maybe on the Monday we get back we could have representatives from the department to explain the bill. Maybe on Wednesday, we could have witnesses. On the following Monday, we could have perhaps an hour for witnesses and then an hour for clause-by-clause to get through it.

No one's thinking that this is going to be a permanent fixture on our calendars until the summer. I would think that we'd be able to get through this bill in three meetings.

[The Chair, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Mr. LeBlanc.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Mr. Chair, I would agree with Rob that this is an additional committee. Some of us are on one or two other committees and have other obligations. I don't think this should be allowed to go on in perpetuity for many weeks.

Speaking for myself, and for my Liberal colleagues, I think, one of the issues we're concerned about is this fingerprinting question before charges are laid. From my own perspective, that's the only issue where I'd want to hear from the police, for example, to understand why they think this is appropriate. I'd perhaps want to hear from the bar association on that issue, and from the Privacy Commissioner, as my colleague Madam Jennings has just said.

But I would agree with the general principle, Rob, that we can do it in three meetings. If we have to, we can have a fourth to do a clause-by-clause.

Mr. Chair, I think we should aim to be expeditious and thorough, and we should not drag this on for weeks and weeks to suddenly find that we have to look at one another four times a week for many weeks. That's not a desirable thing.

[The Chair, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

I sense a general agreement that Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:30 to 5:30 will be the time that this committee will meet.

Monsieur Petit.

[Daniel Petit, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

We are all members of various committees. Personally, I sit on two or three committees. Did everyone check their schedule before agreeing to the Monday and Wednesday time slot? Everyone did? Fine then.

[The Chair, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

Yes. Further to this, is there agreement that the next meeting will be the Monday upon our return, the 25th? Okay?

The chair will go ahead with that as a guideline.

Madam Jennings.

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

When the Department of Justice officials are invited to come, could a specific request be made that they come with an actual statement on the fingerprinting issue and whether or not it meets the charter case law that would back up the position they've taken? It would definitely save time. Because if we have to ask them the question, and they say they have the information but they don't have it with them, that could impose several additional meetings.

So if they come with the documentation.... In fact, if they get it to the clerk beforehand so that it's distributed to all members beforehand, then we'll all be singing from the same page in the book. We might not all be in tune, but at least we'd all at least be on the same page in the book.