Evidence of meeting #1 for Bill C-35 (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 amendment.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bernard Patry
As I said, you all received the documents sent by the clerk.
S'il vous plaît, allez-y.
The Clerk
Two days ago, I have sent to you the usual motions that you have examined, as well as an explanatory document on legislative committees.
I have also sent you a note indicating the names of staff members who will be able to help you during the clause-by-clause study of the bill. You will find in that note the name of the legislative clerk, Mike MacPherson, who is sitting beside me, as well as the name of the legislative counsel who will be helping you write your amendments.
I have also sent you the legislative summary as well as briefing notes that were prepared by our analyst, Dominique Valiquet.
Finally, during the Easter adjournment, you will receive the briefing book from the Department of Justice.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bernard Patry
Thank you.
The appearance of the Minister of Justice is item number 4. Do you all agree that the Minister of Justice will be the first witness?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bernard Patry
On the choice of lists of witnesses, I will ask all the members to provide their lists to the clerk. I have nothing to do with the lists. I'm not choosing. Please provide him a draft of the list as soon as possible.
You have received the schedule of meetings. I understand the justice committee is meeting every Tuesday and Thursday morning from 9 to 11, if not more than that. I would suggest that we could meet on Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 and Wednesday afternoon at 3:30. That will leave those people who want to leave on Thursday afternoon free to do so. I have no problem myself. I live an hour and a half from here, but for people living out west.... Do you agree with this?
Conservative
Rob Moore Conservative Fundy Royal, NB
Just for flexibility, that's fine, the Tuesday and Wednesday. For the first meeting, if the minister was unable to be here on the Tuesday, would it be okay to have that meeting on the Monday?
Liberal
Conservative
Rob Moore Conservative Fundy Royal, NB
There's a chance the minister won't be able to be there on the Tuesday, so we can get started Monday afternoon.
Liberal
Marlene Jennings Liberal Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine, QC
Would it be possible for members to be able to get back to you by the end of the day? I don't have my agenda in front of me, and I would like to be here when the minister is here. So allow me the time to check to make sure that I'm not already committed on Monday afternoon. If I am, give me the time to see if I can shift it to be available for this committee.
Conservative
Rob Moore Conservative Fundy Royal, NB
I'll get back to the clerk by this afternoon on whether the minister can be here on the Tuesday, and then if it's the Tuesday, that will work out fine.
Conservative
Art Hanger Conservative Calgary Northeast, AB
If not, it will definitely be a Monday then, I gather, for the first appearance.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bernard Patry
It's just for the first appearance. The minister is coming, and I know he is very busy.
On item number 7, this is a legislative committee, and there is already $50,000 in the budget. Without going to the Board of Internal Economy, we have $10,000 in the bank, just for people who are travelling from outside Ottawa, if they need to come here. It's very likely that it's done with every committee. It's just to let you know about this.
Are there any other comments?
Conservative
Rob Moore Conservative Fundy Royal, NB
On the estimated number of meetings that we think we're going to need for dealing with this, I have an idea in my mind, but will we leave that to the steering committee?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bernard Patry
The way I scheduled it, apart from the minister, if we have a meeting, let's say, on a Tuesday afternoon for two hours, I would like to have in the first hour two witnesses and in the second hour another two witnesses. That means four witnesses per day. Calculate the number of witnesses you feel you could have. It's not a big bill.
I'm not a justice man, in a sense, but I know the Canadian Bar and this type of association would like to appear. You know more than I do how many witnesses you would like to have. It could go pretty quickly, but in a few weeks in a sense.... We don't want to go too fast either.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bernard Patry
That's my approach, but if you have any ideas, I'm willing to accept them from anyone.
Conservative
Rob Moore Conservative Fundy Royal, NB
Well, I guess until we know the number of witnesses that people want to see appear.... In a panel we usually have more than two witnesses at a time, but I guess that's up to the steering committee. Usually we have four--
