Evidence of meeting #1 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK
And then there's a new.... It might be an hour later because it was so garbled the first time.
5:20 p.m.
The Clerk
Yes, until you're satisfied with this notice of motion, or you can tell the clerk, “I want it exactly like this”.
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK
So the translation is pretty quick. You're not sending it out. You're doing it yourself directly?
5:20 p.m.
The Clerk
No, we send it out to translation, and it has to come back, it has to be set. So there's a bit of a--
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
5:20 p.m.
The Clerk
About two hours would be fair.
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Harvey Conservative Louis-Hébert, QC
I am simply proposing that we follow the process recognized by the House of Commons to accept motions. But here we are, trying to pinpoint down to the minute whether a motion can or cannot be debated at the next meeting. I remember that last year, we often had to deal with motions sent by BlackBerry, for example, at any time during the day. When that happened, the clerk had to decide exactly when the motion had arrived; then the clerk had to make calls and so on.
Under the process recognized by the House, when a motion is tabled at 6:00 p.m., it cannot be debated the next day, but it can be debated the day after that. We are not talking about a notice of exactly 48 hours: it can be 36 hours. It basically comes down to this: there is a period of 24 hours, namely the first day, but on the second day, the debates can take place at 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. or 3:30, depending on when the committee is meeting.
The House had the wisdom to establish a period of 48 hours. This avoids discussions on exactly when the motion was received. In the last session, people were checking their BlackBerry to determine exactly when a motion had been sent, and they argued about whether it had arrived two minutes too late. Now, we are talking about 6:00 p.m. from Monday to Thursday, and 2:30 on Friday. We are only talking about working days. It is extremely simple.
This would allow the clerk and members to do their work and not be surprised at receiving a motion sent at 6:00 p.m. In some cases witnesses might show up at 9:00 a.m., but would then be told to leave because the committee has to deal with a motion. A notice of 24 hours would allow us to tell the witnesses not to show up. When witnesses have to be sent back because we did not have the time to warn them, it's not just one person who loses face, but the whole committee.
I therefore think it would be wise to proceed in this manner.
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Mills
What I'm trying to do is have the clerk come back with what he's heard here and then we can discuss it further. But I think he's heard the arguments. I think he understands what we're all trying to achieve.
Mr. Bigras, unless it's something really critical, I'd like to see the clerk come back with this. We'll deal with it at our next meeting, very quickly, I hope--
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Mills
--and we'll make sure we have a timeframe that's workable for all of us and that we won't be surprised with motions in 12 hours or whatever. Do I have agreement here to do that?
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
John Godfrey Liberal Don Valley West, ON
I have just one question. Does that prevent us from putting motions forward...? In other words, we would be able to cover both 24 hours and 48 hours, because...?
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Mills
Again, without consulting with the clerk, I would like to think that now that we have a chairman and a vice-chair, we would be able to accept motions. Now, if you say, “I'm going to put one in at eight o'clock tonight and I expect it to be dealt with inside of 24 hours”, we've got a problem. But I trust no one is going to do that.
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Mills
We don't have a rule, but between the clerk and me, we'll talk to the member.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
John Godfrey Liberal Don Valley West, ON
All right, just to be clear about that point, I think what we would like to do is give notice of motion today--and that will be covered by any kind of timeframe for next Tuesday--that deals with what we would like to have discussed. So I just want to put that out there.
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Mills
I would think that our next meeting would be future business--that would be the logical approach--and future business would be dealt with next Tuesday. We would look at where we're going to go and what we're going to look at.
If this is a problem, yes, let's solve it now, and maybe we can do some editorial work on it.
It will be that all motions be submitted by 6 p.m. and that we have 24 clock hours to have them in. Does that meet everybody's approval? Then we can vote on this. We'll say that in the motion.
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Mills
Okay. It will be that all motions be submitted by 6 p.m. and that 24 hours expire, clock time, before they will be dealt with by this committee.
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Mills
Yes, after filing with the clerk by 6 p.m. on a given day. So it is 24 hours, clock time, minimum, after having been filed with the clerk no later than 6 p.m.
(Motion agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Mills
Now, on purchasing of documents:
That the Committee be authorized to purchase documents for the use of the Committee.
(Motion agreed to)
5:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Mills
The next one:
That the Chair be authorized to purchase gifts on behalf of the Committee for visiting delegations to Canada meeting with the committee or for foreign hosts when the Committee is travelling abroad.
(Motion agreed to)
