Canadian Heritage Committee on Feb. 6th, 2007

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

We meet once a month.

[Jim Abbott, Conservative, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

Okay.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

We bring these forward—

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

And there won't be any teleconferencing—no teleconferencing whatsoever.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

As—

[The Clerk]

If the committee wanted to hear more witnesses, that could be added during the process.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Why not do it with the existing witnesses?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

We talked about this at the last meeting, and we—

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

We didn't come to any conclusions.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

We didn't come to any conclusions, but we asked the clerk—

We have to have some direction. We've taken that direction that this is the direction we're going to go in this particular instance.

Yes, Ms. Beaumier.

[Colleen Beaumier, Liberal, Brampton West, ON]

I wanted to speak to your issue of teleconferencing, Mr. Fast. I think if you look into the archives you'll see that many committees in the past have looked at the option of teleconferencing and we find the method of communication isn't as effective as a face to face. You miss nuances and you often miss your opportunity to interject.

I think that many committees have looked at teleconferencing. We have done some teleconferencing in the past, and I don't think people were satisfied with the results, at least from their own personal perspective, on how they were able to communicate. I think the argument has been looked at many times. Certainly we can look at it again, but I think we felt that it wasn't as effective.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Mr. Angus.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

We began this discussion the other day. My understanding, though, was that one of the reasons we were going to these centres was to see the operations of the CBC. So unless we're planning some kind of virtual reality tour for members who want to stay back, I don't really see the relevance of the teleconference issue.

We have to see these sites to fully understand what CBC's doing. That's why we picked these sites. We're going to be out in the field getting that information, and at that time we're going to be getting witnesses. As you had pointed out, the difference between pulling witnesses here or us seeing them there is not all that much.

I think it's overall a good budget, but I don't think we need to spend too much time nitpicking over it. My only question would be if it's Montreal or Toronto, which are nearby, it's fine for me. I'm guaranteed a seat on the trips either way, but for all members of our committee, I think if it's at least close to Ottawa, and there's something major in Montreal or Toronto, we should consider inviting all the members of our committee so that they have the opportunity to see the full picture.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Thank you.

Mr. Scott.

[Andy Scott, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

Chair, could I suggest that rather than take the full committee's time, the vice-chairs and you can sit down and work out the details. I think generally there's an understanding that you're not necessarily going to be able to understand the CBC's role in northern Canada by teleconference. Once you've decided you're going to Yellowknife, then generally that takes you a long way away, and that can accommodate others as well. I agree that we might be able to do Montreal and Toronto somewhat differently, being close by and so on. And there may be value in doing some teleconferencing that we just haven't considered yet. I have some ideas about that, and I think we've talked about it.

So I think we could look at the details with a smaller group of people representative of the committee and come back with a proposal for everybody that works out some of these things. Because I think right now we're a little vague on what we're debating.

Could I recommend that? Would Mr. Fast have difficulty with that?

Who's the vice-chair; is that you?

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

I don't think so. I don't think we have a vice-chair over here.

[An hon. member]

You are the vice-chair.

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

Yes, you are the vice-chair.

[Andy Scott, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

No, sorry, I'm thinking of the steering committee, the parliamentary secretary and the steering committee—to work out the details of this.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Okay. I accept that. I think we can get—It can be something that we build on as we go through.

[Andy Scott, Liberal, Fredericton, NB]

In principle, I do support the budgets.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Okay.

That's what we have to do today. We have to pass these budgets so that we can take them to the liaison committee and we can get them okayed.

Yes, Mr. Angus, one last thing.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

I don't have a problem with that, except I don't know if we're all that far off. Are we ready to go now? If not, if it has to go to something smaller, then I want to make sure that—I'm not a vice-chair, but representing the New Democrats who want to be part of that.

But I have a sense that we've already talked about this once. We know what we need to do. Maybe we should just—

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Could I get a motion on the operational budget?

Moved by Mr. Angus, seconded by Mr. Scott.

(Motion agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Can I have a mover for the travel budget?

Moved by Mr. Scott, seconded by Mr. Angus.

(Motion agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])