Evidence of meeting #1 for Electoral Reform in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
1:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Once again, everyone seems to agree.
Go ahead, Mr. DeCourcey.
1:30 p.m.
Liberal
Matt DeCourcey Liberal Fredericton, NB
I am certainly open to adding Bloc Québécois and Green Party members. As Liberal Party members, we agree with having only one Liberal member on the subcommittee, along with the chair. The committee would thus have five members, one from each party, and the chair.
1:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
I understand. There would be two government party members, the chair and another member.
Do you agree? Apart from the chair, there would be one other Liberal Party member.
(Amendment agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])
Are there any further motions?
1:30 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
Mr. Chair, how many members does that give the subcommittee now?
1:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
I think it's about six, if I'm not mistaken. I count five plus the chair.
1:35 p.m.
Conservative
1:35 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
Well, it raises the potential for ties in voting to be broken by the chair. That may not be an essential consideration if we're assuming that all discussions get reported back to the—
1:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Yes, the committee, as you know probably better than I, is the master of its own decisions.
(Motion as amended agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])
That motion is carried. Are there any other proposals for motions?
Go ahead, Ms. Romanado.
1:35 p.m.
Liberal
Sherry Romanado Liberal Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC
Regarding meetings held without a quorum, I put forward the following:
That the Chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive evidence in the absence of a quorum, provided that at least four members are present, including one member from the government party and one member from the opposition.
1:35 p.m.
Liberal
1:35 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
Forgive me if I'm incorrect, but if it's pursuant to the motion adopted on June 7, do we even have discretion not to accept this in its present form? Is it automatically required that we follow this?
1:35 p.m.
NDP
1:35 p.m.
Conservative
1:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Is there anyone else?
(Motion agreed to)
Go ahead, Mr. Aldag.
1:35 p.m.
Liberal
John Aldag Liberal Cloverdale—Langley City, BC
I'll move, related to the distribution of documents, the following:
That only the Clerk of the Committee be authorized to distribute documents to members of the Committee and only when such documents exist in both official languages and that witnesses be advised accordingly prior to appearing before the Committee.
That's as stated in the document that was handed out.
1:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Is there any controversy around this? No?
Go ahead, Mr. Reid.
1:35 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
I have one comment, Mr. Chair.
This is something that has created problems in the past with regard to notice periods. If we are unreasonably peremptory in our expectation that a witness appear before the committee, and the witness, particularly in this kind of case, is perhaps an expert witness with a substantial report to make, we're effectively depriving ourselves of the benefit of the written supplementation to that individual's testimony if we don't give an adequate notice period or we don't have special translation available for what could potentially be a document that's lengthier than the ones we normally receive. I think we'll face this problem more here than with a normal committee.
This is not meant to change the wording of the motion. It is meant to put us on our guard. We have to be sensitive to the fact that we may be depriving ourselves of information if we are not sensitive to the timing issues that will arise.
1:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
That's a good point, Mr. Reid.
I'm told, and I've seen it from experience, that the witnesses would still be able to come, but their documents would not be distributed until they were in both official languages. They hopefully would be very soon distributed in both official languages so that the committee would still have the benefit of the verbal testimony and the written testimony in both languages.
1:35 p.m.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
Yes. I myself, Mr. Chair, before I became a member of Parliament, was a witness before the procedure and House affairs committee. I can tell you that at the time, I did not learn of the need to get documents submitted for translation until after it happened. These problems arise from time to time.
