Canadian Heritage Committee on Feb. 4th, 2016

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Jean-François Lafleur]

Good morning, honourable members of the committee.

I see a quorum.

I must inform members that the clerk of the committee can only receive motions for the election of the chair. The clerk cannot receive other types of motions and cannot entertain points of order or participate in debate.

We can now proceed to the election of chair, pursuant to standing order 106(2). The chair must be a member of the government party. I am now ready to receive motions for chair, please.

Mr. Maguire.

[Larry Maguire, Conservative, Brandon—Souris, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Clerk. I'm prepared to make a motion. I nominate Ms. Fry as the chair of the committee.

[The Clerk]

Thank you.

It has been moved by Mr. Maguire that Ms. Fry be elected as chair of the committee. Are there any further motions?

Seeing none, is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

I declare the motion carried and Ms. Fry duly elected chair of the committee. Congratulations.

I invite Ms. Fry to take the chair, please.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you very much, everyone, for unanimously agreeing to make me chair. I hope I don't let you down, and I hope that this is going to be a committee in which we all work together in a collegial manner to try to achieve the best for Canadians.

I would like to move now to election of the vice-chairs.

Does the committee agree to proceed to that?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Are there any nominations for vice-chair? The vice-chair must be from the official opposition.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

I would like to nominate Larry Maguire as vice-chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Larry Maguire is nominated.

[The Clerk]

Larry Maguire has been nominated to be elected first vice-chair of the committee. I'd like to remind you that the first vice-chair has to be a member of the official opposition.

Ms. Dabrusin moved that Mr. Maguire be elected first vice-chair of the committee. Are there any further motions?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Maguire duly elected first vice-chair of the committee.

As agreed earlier, we can move to the election of the second vice-chair.

Pursuant to standing order 106(2), the second vice-chair must be a member of an opposition party other than the official opposition. I am now ready to receive nominations.

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

Thank you.

I would like to nominate Pierre Nantel for the position of second vice-chair.

[The Clerk]

Thank you.

It has been moved by Mr. Van Loan that Mr. Nantel be elected as the second vice-chair of the committee.

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Nantel duly elected second vice-chair of the committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Now I'm hoping that the committee will agree to go to routine motions. Is that okay with the committee?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Ms. Dabrusin.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

I was going to bring in the first routine motion. Are we on that?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

The first motion is going to be with regard to the services of the analysts from the Library of Parliament. Go ahead, Ms. Dabrusin.

[Julie Dabrusin, Liberal, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

I would like to move:

That the Committee retain, as needed and at the discretion of the Chair, the services of one or more analysts from the Library of Parliament to assist in its work.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

There's a motion with regard to employing one or more analysts to assist the committee.

Does anyone want to discuss that? Is everyone in agreement? Yes, obviously.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

We're now going to move to a motion on the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure. You should know that the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure is composed of five members—the chair, the two vice-chairs, and two government members—and the quorum for the subcommittee is to be three members, including one member of the government and one member of the opposition. That's basically what happens when we decide on this.

Is there anyone who wishes to move this motion?

Mr. Nantel.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank, you, Madam Chair.

First of all, congratulations on your election. I am very pleased to be working with you again.

I imagine that everyone received this information booklet.

I'll speak slowly to make sure that you have time to put on your earpiece.

In this information piece, it has been evoked that in the 41st Parliament all parties were represented on the subcommittee and, of course, the chair was there too. If there was any big event, the government still had the torque to make the changes it wished.

I would see it as symbolically preferable to have one government member and one representative of both opposition parties. I don't see the need to have two government members on the subcommittee.

Are there any opinions about this?

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

This is traditional and it is what other committees have agreed to. It would seem to balance out the decision-making process. I would suggest that we stay with this model.

Is there any discussion? Is it agreed or not?

Mr. Van Loan.

[Peter Van Loan, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

I personally have no objection to Monsieur Nantel's suggestion. Obviously it would have to be made in the form of a motion. I think we could live with that, or the proposed one here. From the Conservative side, I think either one is probably fine.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Mr. Vandal.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

I'm not supportive of that. I think it's important that this committee be reflective of Parliament as a whole and as it was elected several months ago.

I'm not supportive of

Mr. Nantel's motion. In fact, I should call it a suggestion, since it's not even a motion yet.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Mr. Nantel.