Environment Committee on April 28th, 2008

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Order, please.

I would like to deal with a couple of items before we get started and welcome our guests and so on.

First of all, regarding Bill C-377, we have received the Liberal, Bloc, and Conservative papers, which will be attached when I table this tomorrow. I understand that the NDP's paper will be completed shortly.

Is it ready now? Okay.

Anyway, if the members wish, we do have copies here. We need your permission to hand them around to everyone. No one has seen the others' copies of this. So what is your wish?

[An hon. member]

Sure.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Mr. Bigras, is it okay if we pass yours around?

Mr. Cullen?

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

Mr. Chair, we're just taking a look to make sure the French is verified with the English.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Okay, so sometime during the meeting....

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

Correct.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Mr. Warawa, could we pass yours around?

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

Yes, please.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Great. We'll get the clerks to pass these around.

So on Bill C-377, my plan is to table that tomorrow. You know the report. I think everyone has received a copy of the letter from us that's going with it; it basically summarizes what happened and why we're sending it back in the form we are.

Does anybody have any comments or questions about that?

Mr. Warawa.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

Mr. Chair, I have not seen the report. Basically, the Liberals, the Bloc, and the NDP were in support of Bill C-377. My colleagues and I on this side of the table were quite concerned about Bill C-377 and that it doesn't do anything substantial for the environment. So we submitted our supplementary report.

It would be nice to know what the other parties are presenting. Would it be possible, before you table that, for us to have a chance to see it?

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Yes, we do have permission from everyone to pass that around. I think you heard that Mr. Cullen is in the final phases of checking the French version. So that is being handed around. It's the property of each party. I could table it without it being handed around, but I have received permission to hand it around. So you're getting that right now.

Are there any other comments?

Okay. I'm tabling it tomorrow then.

Just to let the committee know, we have had a request from China's National People's Congress environment committee to come before our committee on June 3. I feel it would be pretty meaningful to ask them questions about the environment. I can tell you that they have more serious problems than we do.

So we have tentatively booked them for that date. I just wanted to let you know that I did go ahead and do that. I think you'll find it pretty interesting to question them on the environment, particularly with the Olympics coming up and all the things that go with that.

[An hon. member]

And Tibet.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

I would suggest that maybe Tibet is not part of their number one issue regarding the environment, but you can ask about environmental perspectives. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know about that.

As far as the other dates, of course, today we're dealing with Bill C-474. On Wednesday we'll be dealing with Bill C-474. So today it's basically the scope, on Wednesday it's the structure, and on Monday it's the jurisdiction. We have confirmed witnesses for those three meetings.

Then I'm requesting that on Wednesday, May 7, we have the new Environment Commissioner come, and we've tentatively found that that would be possible, although that tightens the.... There is going to be a report on May 6 from the Auditor General, so it fits pretty well with our new Environment Commissioner, and then we have a deadline for amendments the following day. So after witnesses on Monday, it gives you three days to complete amendments and get them in to the clerk by the afternoon of Thursday, May 8. Then, of course, we'd begin clause-by-clause on the following Monday.

Yes, Mr. Cullen.

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

I would like to comment about the commissioner coming before the committee.

A number of committee members over the years--the last two years in particular--have expressed concern with the reporting and the changes that were being presented by Ms. Fraser. I'm wondering if we would be able to focus some of the new commissioner's testimony that way, or at least give them advance notice from the New Democrats that the question will be forthcoming. Can the clerk make note of that?

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

He begins work on May 5, so this would introduce him to all of us very quickly and hopefully give us the opportunity to let him hear both what we as the environment committee think and what the parameters of his job will be. Ms. Fraser will be here as well, so both of them can hear what we have to say. If you have any suggestions, there's no reason anyone here shouldn't give him advance warning about the sorts of things we might be asking him.

We have two other witnesses coming, and they should be here within about 10 or 15 minutes. We indicated that we would have some other business, so we will start unless people have other things they want to discuss.

The plan sounds okay then? Is everybody fine with that?

Yes, Mr. Warawa.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

I'm just looking at the original plan.

Under the original plan for discussing Bill C-474, we had a total of five meetings before followed by two meetings of clause-by-clause. What you're proposing is three meetings instead of five. Is that correct?

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

That's what I'm proposing, and then we would have the environment commissioner next Wednesday, which would come immediately on his beginning the new job.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

The original proposal that came from the steering committee was that we have a total of five meetings of witnesses, as opposed to now having three.

Who are we missing? Who are we not going to hear from by having two fewer meetings?

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

I've just consulted with the clerk. We had five meetings scheduled for Bill C-474, and we've already had one. In effect, if you look at it, we've probably added a meeting. It was three and two, and we've already had one.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Normand Radford]

That's right. We've added two. We added one for main estimates. We added one for witnesses. Now, in fact, we've added one more for clause-by-clause.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Is everybody onside, and does everyone know what we're doing?

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

So we'll get the revised schedule shortly?

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Yes. We'll get you a revised list with all of those dates that I've mentioned.

Of course, we do have main estimates, which we have to look at before the end of the month. We have in effect probably the 28th or thereabouts; that date would work.

Then we do have Bill C-469 as well.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

On the estimates, the ADMs are available on the 26th or the 28th.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bob Mills]

Okay. So we'll confirm....

Yes, Mr. Bigras.