Canadian Heritage Committee on March 23rd, 2011

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Well, if the votes are finished before 5:30, we'll reconvene here for the continuation of committee business as outlined in the orders of the day and for the consideration of your motion. It all depends on when the votes finish today.

Mr. Rodriguez.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Mr. Chairman, I simply want to make sure that it will not take place after 5:30 as I have another meeting planned at that time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

No, we're not going to go past 5:30. If the votes finish at an appropriate time and we have time to reconvene, we'll reconvene here and continue the meeting to 5:30.

Without further ado, this meeting is suspended.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Welcome to the continuation of the 48th meeting of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.

We're here pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) for a study of the appointment of Mr. Pentefountas as vice-chair, broadcasting, of the Canadian Radiotelevision and Telecommunications Commission.

We have in front of us today, on our second panel, three witnesses. Madame Lévesque is from the Department of Canadian Heritage. Madame Henry and Madame Boyd are from the Privy Council Office.

I want to thank all three of you for your patience, as we had votes in the House, and also thank you for coming to our committee to explain how appointments work.

I understand we have a motion that Madame Lavallée wishes to move that is consistent with the orders of the day.

Madame Lavallée.

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Should I introduce my motion now?

I will read it, I think everyone has a copy of it. Did you distribute copies of it? No?

So—

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Peterborough, ON]

Point of order, Mr. Chair. We did not receive a copy of the motion.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Okay. She doesn't have to distribute it, but I'll ask the clerk to distribute it. She can read it or we can have it distributed. I will have the clerk distribute the copy as I originally received it.

I'll let Madame Lavallée move her motion. Please read it into the record.

[Carole Lavallée, Bloc, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

I shortened the original version that you will be getting, but better to be safe than sorry. I will read it:

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2), that the following motion be reported to the House at the earliest opportunity. That the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage call on the Heritage Minister to immediately relieve Athanasios Pentefountas of his duties as full-time Commissioner and Vice-Chair of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

We have a motion before us that has been moved. I have a point of order from Mr. Rodriguez first. Then we'll go to Mr. Del Mastro, and then Mr. Angus.

Mr. Rodriguez.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Just as a matter of courtesy towards our witnesses, Mr. Chairman. If we are to debate this motion for five minutes, we could dismiss them, if they have—

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

The orders of the day have asked these three witnesses to appear. They've appeared. Madame Lavallée has moved a motion and we're going to consider that first.

The meeting will adjourn at 5:30, in six minutes. So if we dispose of the motion we'll have a brief set of questions from the members for the witnesses. We'll have them stay in front of us until 5:30.

Mr. Del Mastro is next, and then Mr. Angus.

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Peterborough, ON]

I have the same point as Mr. Rodriguez. I think it is kind of presumptuous of us to move to motions, as opposed to hearing from the witnesses who were requested by Madame Lavallée in the first place. Now she wants to pre-empt hearing from them. I think it's inappropriate.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

It's in order, so we have a motion in front of us.

Mr. Angus.

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

I was going to plead, since this might be our last chance to question him, to have two minutes so we could at least get that on the record and then talk about the motion.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Well, the motion has been moved, so it must be disposed of. If there's no further debate I'll call the question on the motion.

Is there any further debate on the motion in front of us, as Madame Lavallée has moved?

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Peterborough, ON]

Absolutely.

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

Mr. Chairman, I appreciate the anxiety expressed by some opposition members of the committee. They seem to have a problem with the appointment process, not only this appointment but ministerial appointments in general. When our political party was in opposition, we believed that the system was broken and we committed to fixing it. Shortly after the 2006 elections, that is precisely what we attempted to do, and, at the time, we proposed a more open, more public system. We even put forward the name of an eminent Canadian as chair. This eminent Canadian faced an inquisition. Given the fact that the government did not have enough members on the committee, this individual did not get the position. He was not appointed to a position for which he would have received one dollar per year in compensation. The various opposition party members then asked the government to propose somebody else. One could assume that if the government had proposed a candidate, this individual would have been its second choice, or a person of lesser quality than the first choice. We did not engage in this game.

Since then, we have made appointments. At times, we appoint individuals who support the government and, sometimes, people who do not. Naturally, people think that if the government happens to appoint someone that supports its party, it is, by definition, a bad appointment.

I understand that when the vice-chairman of the CRTC was appointed a few weeks ago, the government appointed another individual to the CBC board of directors. This person does not support our political party and must therefore have the necessary qualifications.

This type of criticism is somewhat dubious. Earlier this afternoon there was a type of inquisition that took place and someone presented, as if it were evidence, reports found in the newspaper, heard on the radio or seen on television.

I do not believe that true parliamentarians should conduct themselves in this manner.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to know whether I have a time limit.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

No, there is no limit, but there is a limit to the meeting; it will be ending at 5:30 p.m.

We're going to end debate here, because clearly it's not going to collapse. I'm not going to call a vote. I will set time aside at the next meeting to debate this motion further.

I want to thank our three witnesses. I apologize, but the House takes precedence over this committee when it comes to votes, and members have the right to move motions here, as per the rules.

We appreciate your attendance and thank you for coming.

This meeting is adjourned.