Evidence of meeting #22 for Canadian Heritage in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was thursday.
A recording is available from Parliament.
3:35 p.m.
The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Richard Dupuis
Good morning. I see that we have a quorum. I will therefore proceed with the election of the chair.
The chair must be a member of the government party.
I am ready to receive motions for the position of committee chair.
3:35 p.m.
The Clerk
Mr. Del Mastro moves that Mr. Chong be elected chair of the committee.
(Motion agreed to)
I declare Mr. Chong duly elected chair of the committee.
3:35 p.m.
Some hon. members
Hear, hear!
3:35 p.m.
The Clerk
If there are no objections, I will now proceed with the election of the first vice-chair, who must be a member of the official opposition.
3:35 p.m.
Liberal
Scott Simms Liberal Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL
I would like to nominate Pablo Rodriguez.
3:35 p.m.
The Clerk
Mr. Simms moves that Mr. Rodriguez be elected first vice-chair of the committee.
(Motion agreed to)
I declare Mr. Rodriguez duly elected first vice-chair of the committee.
3:35 p.m.
Voices
Hear, hear!
3:35 p.m.
The Clerk
We will now proceed with the election of the second vice-chair, who must be a member of either the Bloc Québécois or the New Democratic Party.
3:35 p.m.
The Clerk
Mr. Pomerleau moves that Madame Lavallée be elected second vice-chair of the committee.
(Motion agreed to)
I declare Madame Lavallée duly elected second vice-chair in absentia.
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Thank you everyone for placing your trust in me and for electing me chair of the committee.
I want to tell you that I'm thrilled to be here. I'm very much looking forward to chairing the Canadian heritage committee and working with all of you.
Welcome to the 22nd meeting of our committee.
I've asked committee members if they want to discuss our upcoming fall agenda.
I want to seek consent here to go into committee business to talk about what we're going to do this autumn so you can give the chair and the clerk some direction as to how you want the next 13 meetings to unfold.
Before I go to Mr. Angus and then Mr. Del Mastro, I'll just point out that we left the committee in June with the unfinished digital media study. That's one item we need some direction on, as to whether or not you want to continue that, how many more meetings you want on that, and when you want to wrap that up.
The second two items are that we have two motions in front of the committee--one moved by Monsieur Rodriguez, and one by Madame Lavallée--concerning the CBC and the marquee tourism program respectively.
We also have in front of our committee a private member's bill from Mr. Norlock, which I understand he would like us to deal with. I don't think it would take more than one or two meetings.
We also have an order in council that has been distributed to all the members of the committee concerning the appointment of Mr. Jim Silye, of Arnprior, Ontario, to the board of trustees of the National Museum of Science and Technology. If the committee wants to review that, it's another option.
That's all the business in front of the committee.
We'll begin with Mr. Angus.
3:40 p.m.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
On behalf of the New Democratic Party, congratulations. I think you have a great reputation in the House for your work as committee chair. This is one of the great committees, I do believe, because we tend to actually make a plan and we tend to stick to it generally, and we tend to actually come out with some usable reports. So your hand will certainly help us.
There are definitely a number of outstanding issues. I'm wary about getting into our motions today without Madame Lavallée here, because I don't think it's fair to entertain one and not the other. They both pertain to where we're going.
In terms of the emerging digital media study, I would make perhaps two recommendations. The first is that I think we need an overview of what committee business has been done for the new members and for us, who probably have been swamped with a million other things in the intervening months.
Then I think we need to have perhaps a planning session around that, because we are going to be dealing with copyright. Much of the digital media study was getting very much sidetracked on the issue of copyright, as opposed to issues of broadcast, on where we're going in terms of a digital media strategy for culture. Perhaps we're going to need to reassess that study and whether or not we have to pare it down to address or to focus in on the digital distribution of works, as opposed to the larger issues of digital culture; whether we are even close to getting to that point and we're going to just decide to continue with meeting after meeting; or whether we hear some more witnesses, maybe suspend final judgment on that report until after the copyright bill has come in, and then we can see if we're missing something. I think we need to spend a bit of time strategically thinking about that digital media study, because those recommendations are important. With us being caught between that study and copyright, we might not do ourselves justice.
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I guess I'll pick up first where Mr. Angus left off.
I think a briefing by the analysts would be appropriate. We have a number of new members on the committee, and I think it might be a good opportunity for those of us who were here to catch up with exactly what we were working on. Perhaps we could plan on having that at the first meeting back after the break.
We are prepared to deal with motions. I think these have been outstanding for a while. We're prepared to deal with them. I guess it would be up to the Bloc if they wanted to move Madam Lavallée's motion today. Certainly we're prepared to support Mr. Rodriguez's motion. I don't see it as being controversial in any way.
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Just to clarify, what are you proposing for the first meeting back after the break?
3:45 p.m.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
I'm just getting to that. I apologize.
For the first meeting after the break, I'm suggesting that perhaps that would give the analysts enough time to be able to put a briefing together for members of the committee as to where we were at on the study we had been undertaking on digital media. I agree with Charlie that it's probably the best place to start with: where we go from there. I know we've had a number of other witness indicate that they'd like to come in and appear on that. Over the summer I've been contacted by a number of them.
What I would like to see happen, Mr. Chair, is this. There is a private member's bill that received unanimous support in the House. I believe we could deal with it in probably one meeting, since it's a fairly simple bill, which is Mr. Norlock's private member's bill. I can't see any reason we can't deal with that on Thursday. I know the committee is going to be bound to deal with it at some point here in this session, so we could dispose of it now. It did have all-party support.
In the first meeting back we could have that briefing and then have an open discussion about where we go from there. That's how I propose to move forward.
3:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
If we do call a meeting for Thursday on this private members' business, are the witnesses available? Is Mr. Norlock available and are other witnesses available to appear?
3:45 p.m.
Conservative
Dean Del Mastro Conservative Peterborough, ON
I have taken the opportunity to speak to both Mr. Norlock and to a number of witnesses who'd be required to speak on the bill. I contacted them last week to ask them if they would be prepared to move as quickly as that, and they indicated that they would.
3:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Okay. That's good to know.
I will turn the floor over to Mr. Pomerleau first, and then to Mr. Rodriguez.
3:45 p.m.
Bloc
Roger Pomerleau Bloc Drummond, QC
Normally, I would go along with Mr. Del Mastro. However, I'm not at all sure what Madame Lavallée has done in terms of contacting people and inviting them to testify in connection with Mr. Norlock's bill. I do not know if she has anyone in mind or whether some witnesses have already been contacted. Therefore, I can't speak for her. I cannot see us starting this study until we know where we stand on that.
However, after we return from spending a week in our ridings, that would be the best time, as Mr. Del Mastro suggested, to prepare an overview of the work that the committee has done, to bring new members up to speed.
I would prefer that we not get into Madame Lavallée's motion at this time. It is her motion and I don't know what exactly she wanted to say about it. She can speak to it herself.
3:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
We will discuss Madame Lavallée's motion after next week's break.
Go ahead, Mr. Rodriguez.
3:45 p.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
First of all, congratulations, Monsieur le Président.
I pretty much agree with what's been said here. I don't see any problem, starting with the briefing and all of that.
We do have to decide how long we want to go on with the study, though, because we've been working on this for a while and we've seen a lot of people. I think we have to keep on doing it, but not necessarily for months. So we'll have to decide on something there.
Regarding Bill C-465, we would be planning two meetings, would we?
3:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Mr. Del Mastro suggested just one meeting, which is Thursday. It's a very short act.
3:45 p.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
It is short, but if we're only going to have one meeting, could we have it on the Tuesday? It's tougher to have people come Thursday, late afternoon, than on Tuesday.
Would that be a problem? Or could we have two meetings?