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.
4:40 p.m.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
Then each party can have one person from their House leadership team, basically.
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Mills
In other words, the Conservative Party could have four staff members plus one member from somewhere else. So that's five members.
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
4:40 p.m.
Liberal
John Godfrey Liberal Don Valley West, ON
If you're a committee member, accompanied by one staff, that makes five.
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
4:40 p.m.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
It would read:
In addition, each party shall be permitted to have one staff member from either the office of their House Leader, their whip, or their research bureau attend in camera meetings.
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
Mark Warawa Conservative Langley, BC
As we're talking about in camera meetings, there was a breach of confidence in the last committee. Do we want to discuss that? Hopefully, it never happens again. Do you want to discuss consequences?
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Mills
I think we should deal with that. We would hope it would never happen again. If it does happen, then it's a serious matter for the committee to discuss, and I think we should deal with it in that way. That's how I would prefer to deal with it: we have an incident, we deal with it. Hopefully, we don't have to deal with that.
Is there any problem with in camera meeting transcripts being kept in the clerk's office?
That one copy of the transcript of each in camera meeting be kept in the Committee Clerk's office for consultation (at the Clerk's office) by members of the Committee.
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Mills
I'm turning the page. I'm trying to nitpick here and pick the easy ones.
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Mills
Okay. I started with meals. Let's go back up the list here.
“Distribution of Documents”:
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.
I think we did have a problem occasionally when someone would go around and hand out something that either wasn't translated or that the clerk or the chair had never seen, and sometimes it was through not understanding how it works. But in some cases it could be something rather controversial. So this way it goes through the clerk, and all documents go through the clerk.
Those in favour?
(Motion agreed to)
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
Does this mean that if a document is brought forward by witnesses in one language and it's brought to the clerk, the clerk would then proceed to have it translated in due course and then distributed?
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Mills
That's correct.
Our biggest concern has always been, and it will be again, that witnesses show up with their document in one language and we don't have it in advance of questioning them. Obviously, my instructions to the clerk—and he already knows this—are to try to get them ahead of time, to try to get them in the members' hands a week before, so that we all have time to go through them. We can say that, but there will be witnesses who will not be able to do that.
4:45 p.m.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
I presume that if a member decides to walk down to the witness and ask for a copy of whatever he's offering, whatever he has, there is nothing to stop them from doing that, obviously. It's not a question of the committee, really, is it?
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Bob Mills
That's right.
Okay. On “Reduced Quorum”:
That the Chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive evidence and to have that evidence printed when a quorum is not present, provided that at least three (3) members are present, including one member of the opposition.
Mr. Warawa.
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Mark Warawa Conservative Langley, BC
Chair, a quorum is seven for this group, so we're talking a reduced quorum:
That the Chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive evidence and to have that evidence printed when a quorum is not present, provided that at least three members (3) are present, including one member of the opposition.
So what that's saying is that—
4:45 p.m.
Conservative
Mark Warawa Conservative Langley, BC
Through you to the clerk, I want to make sure this is recorded. This is assuming that there is a representative.... Now it's mentioning the opposition. There have to be at least three members of the opposition, so if we're in a structure where there's a majority government, the government cannot dominate, the government cannot call a meeting and have decisions made without the opposition present there.
My question is for clarification on the opposite, where we find ourselves in a minority government and there are more opposition members present than government members. So is this assuming--it's unwritten, but is it assuming--that there also must be members of the government for there to be a quorum?
4:45 p.m.
The Clerk
It's assuming that the chair is from the government.