Environment Committee on May 3rd, 2006

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Eugene Morawski]

Honourable members, I see a quorum.

First of all, I'd like to introduce myself to the new members. I'm Eugene Morawski. I'll be the clerk of this committee.

With me is Chad Mariage, who is the new clerk of the natural resources committee. We'll be following each other around for the next couple of months.

Without further ado, our first order of business is the election of the chair. I'm prepared to take motions to that effect.

Mr. Warawa.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

I wish to nominate Mr. Bob Mills.

[The Clerk]

Mr. Warawa, you nominate Mr. Mills.

Mr. Cullen, did you have another nomination?

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

No, I'll second that.

[The Clerk]

Seconded by Mr. Cullen.

Are there any other nominations?

I declare Mr. Mills elected chair of the committee. Congratulations.

At this moment, I can preside over the election of the vice-chairs, if you wish.

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Clerk]

Okay. Our first one would be nominations for the first vice-chair. I would be ready to take motions to that effect.

Mr. Godfrey.

[John Godfrey, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

I nominate Mr. Silva.

[The Clerk]

Mr. Godfrey nominates Mr. Silva as first vice-chair.

Are there any other nominations? Closed? Agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Clerk]

Mr. Silva is elected the first vice-chair of the committee.

And now, for a second vice-chair, I'm prepared to take motions.

Monsieur Lussier.

[Marcel Lussier, Bloc, Brossard—La Prairie, QC]

I nominate Mr. Bernard Bigras.

[Steven Blaney, Conservative, Lévis—Bellechasse, QC]

I second the motion.

[The Clerk]

Mr. Lussier, seconded by Mr. Blaney, moves to nominate Mr. Bernard Bigras.

We don't have to second motions in committee, but we'll take that anyway.

Are there any other nominations?

I declare Mr. Bigras elected second vice-chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Thank you very much, gentlemen--seeing we have no ladies. We'll have to try to change that, guys.

Thank you very much for your support. It was a hard campaign. I want to thank my mother and.... Sorry, that's not right.

I guess our decision today would be on the routine motions, if we want to get those taken care of. I think everybody got a copy of those earlier. Some committees take care of those at this time, and some wait until the next meeting. I think it's just as well to take care of them. They're pretty routine.

Does anybody disagree with that?

Okay. The first one--Eugene, I think we'll just go through them as you have them--is in regard to the services of the Library of Parliament: that this committee retain a member of the Library of Parliament.

I see Tim sitting over here. I think a number of you are familiar with Tim, who certainly in the past has done a great job for us.

Would someone like to so move? Mr. Silva.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Next is that the subcommittee on agenda and procedure be composed of.... That's the steering committee. I might speak first just about that. I've been on committees where we've had a subcommittee, and I've been on committees where we haven't had a subcommittee. To follow in Charles Caccia's footsteps, he would suggest that the reason not to have a subcommittee--and I used to disagree with him violently--was the fact that you discuss things in a subcommittee, then you bring that to the committee, and then you discuss all the same things again as to what you want on the agenda and what you want to do.

That said, I leave that up to you. We could try not having that subcommittee, or you could make a motion and we could set up a subcommittee at this point.

Nathan.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

I'd move that we do, only based on the experience of the last committee. We didn't actually end up meeting that often but set out the course at key points in the calendar year.

I didn't detect a lot of disgruntlement from the different members. There were ways to influence the subcommittee either through your own party or through other parties. It seemed to work well last time. I think if we make the decisions there and then don't rehash the whole conversation at the committee level....

I can't remember how long our subcommittee meetings were, but they weren't long. Fifteen minutes every once in a while seemed to set the course, with Tim's help and others. It seemed to work well.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Are there any other comments?

Nathan, are you making that a motion?

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Yes, I've made that a motion.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Is there anyone else?

As I say, I've been on both, and it depends how it's handled, I guess.

[John Godfrey, Liberal, Don Valley West, ON]

So under Tonks you had one?

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Under Tonks there was one, yes. Under Charles there was not one, basically because of the duplication. Who needs another meeting? And that seemed to work fairly well, as long as the committee members cooperated.

[Mario Silva, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Mr. Chair, I presume you would be the one chairing the subcommittee--or would it be somebody else?

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

I think that's normally how it has worked, yes.

Last year the committee decided to create a subcommittee on agenda and procedure, composed of the chair, both vice-chairs, the parliamentary secretary, and a representative of the New Democratic Party. That's how it was handled last year; that's the motion we passed last year.

Are there any other comments?

[Mario Silva, Liberal, Davenport, ON]

Would the subcommittee usually meet, say, 50 minutes before the meeting, or...?