Environment Committee on April 17th, 2008

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

As some of you have experienced, I think, in the past, when we've had report stage in the House, it's up to the Speaker to determine whether it could have been, should have been, or was debated in committee. If it was not debated in committee, then usually my experience has been that they look favourably on those amendments.

Certainly Mr. Comartin and I have been through this in another war. The Speaker looks at them and determines whether they have been debated in committee. So it's a toss-up whether those exact amendments.... If the Speaker feels they've been dealt with, obviously, probably they won't get into report stage.

So I don't think we should mislead anybody that they will for sure, but if they haven't been dealt with, I would say there's a pretty good chance.

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

All right.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

The clerk simply confirms what I basically said, that it's really up to the Speaker. There's no guarantee that this is what's going to happen, but you can take your odds.

Are there any other comments?

You have the motion in front of you. Do I need to read it? I think everybody understands it and everybody's clear.

(Motion agreed to on division)

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

What we'll do is put together this report.

Have we finished Bill C-377?

Yes, Mr. Warawa.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

I have a further question on the report.

You'll be bringing that back and, as you said, we will have an opportunity to review it and approve it. Is that right?

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Correct.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

Because of the great concern I had regarding Bill C-377, which I've shared at length, we'll be submitting a supplementary minority report as per routine proceedings. I think it's also important that we have that so we can adequately share, through you to the House, the concerns we have with Bill C-377.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Yes. As members will know, of course, to submit a minority report is a right that all members have. Usually the conditions are discussed and agreed to by the committee. Obviously some limitations can be put on such minority reports that the committee needs to decide upon.

Mr. Comartin.

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

I would only caution the committee. Your points are well taken, as are Mr. Warawa's, but we are on a really strict time limit. This report, the chair's report, and the minority report will basically have to be done by the Thursday when we come back--I guess it's Wednesday that we meet--because in terms of reprinting the bill, which is going to have to be done, there's some work that has to be done by staff. So I simply caution the committee to use the break period to get their material ready.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

We will come back to that, but we do need a motion to reprint this in both official languages and so on.

I'll deal with that, then we've got that done.

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

So moved.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Mr. Comartin moves.

Is this about the same point?

[Luc Harvey, Conservative, Louis-Hébert, QC]

I would like to know the date for the tabling of the minority report.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

May 7.

Yes, Mr. McGuinty.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Mr. Chair, the official opposition reserves the right as well to tender such a minority report. We're disappointed in the government's announcement. It doesn't see the possibility that your narrative will capture clearly the differences here, what has actually transpired. We may very well have to put something on paper as well for Canadians to understand exactly what has transpired here.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

The clerk points out to me that it's an opinion, not a report. So if you can put your opinion, this minority opinion, that's what we're talking about.

First of all, we'll vote on the reprinting motion.

(Motion agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

As for the minority opinions, in practice that I've seen, there's usually a limit placed on length. Other than that, any member can submit a minority opinion on this. Those are the rules.

I don't know what your thinking is on that, but we do need to make that decision.

Mr. Godfrey, then Mr. Bigras.

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

If we can't say what our opinion is in two pages, we shouldn't have one.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Okay, I hear two pages.

Mr. Bigras.

[Bernard Bigras, Bloc, Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie, QC]

I am not saying that I disagree with my colleague, Mr. Godfrey, but I believe that we are now out of the woods. We encountered a great many difficulties but we have managed to get through this stage. In my opinion, this report should be engaging and as strong as possible. The fewer dissenting reports there are, the better it will be. That is just an opinion I am putting out.

We must not forget that we did not follow the normal procedure. This decision and this report must be solidly supported by the Committee. Of course, any political party is free to put forward a dissenting report. I do not wish to officially state that the Bloc will not be presenting a dissenting report, but on the face of it, it is not certain that we will be doing so.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Mr. Harvey.

[Luc Harvey, Conservative, Louis-Hébert, QC]

Mr. Chairman, we several times indicated that we had various concerns with regard to Bill C-377. We underscored the fact that it was missing a few important elements. Today, not only is it missing certain elements, but it is even missing portions of the bill tabled by Mr. Layton a few months ago, a few weeks ago. It is therefore really not possible to limit ourselves to two pages. Personally, I hope to be able to present a dissenting report and I do not believe I will be able to summarize in fewer than 20 pages my views on the weakness of the bill as tabled.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

I guess I think of two words that were mentioned by Mr. Bigras when he said we were coming out of the woods. It has been awfully shady in there, so it's kind of nice to think we might have a brighter sun. Because I got my meter on my solar panels yesterday, I'm even happier.

I hope we won't carry on what we've gone through in these reports. If they're 20 or 30 pages and the bill is however many pages, and our report is one page, I'm not sure where that's going. As a caution from the chair, if I might be so bold, I would suggest we get into the sunshine and try to pass this back to the House for report stage and let the House take care of it. That would be my advice.

I think procedurally what we need to do is accept those minority opinions. They will be attached to what we send back to the House in terms of the chair's report. But as you know, the chair's report will not comment on some of the things you might. It will comment on the history, as I read to you. That would be our report. This is why we're sending it back, the history of where we're at.

Are there other comments? Mr. Warawa.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

Mr. Chair, on the suggestion from Mr. Godfrey that it be limited to two pages, we've become quite used to the opposition members trying to keep us from sharing our concerns about Bill C-377, but in the spirit of moving out of the woods, as Mr. Bigras suggested, we can live with two pages.

As my colleague Mr. Harvey shared, we do have great concerns. Mr. Watson shared at length the impacts of Bill C-377 on the auto industry, the huge increases in energy costs that would result if Bill C-377 were to go forward. It may be difficult to put it within two pages, but we will try.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

We have two pages suggested as the length of the opinions. Are there any other comments about that?

I hear then that our opinions will be limited to two pages. I'm going to ask everyone to have their opinions to the clerk by Monday, April 28. That gives us time to get it all put together, get it translated, get it sent off and prepared. Then I presume I would be able to table that on Wednesday, Thursday, or whatever day of that week. It should be submitted in both official languages. It's each party's or person's opinion.

Perhaps you would get them to the clerk by the end of the day on Monday. Is that agreed?