Evidence of meeting #5 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was warawa.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
I noticed we were bouncing around; I wasn't sure if I was still on the agenda.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
No, that's fine, Mr. Scarpaleggia. Thank you very much.
I want to point out something that Ms. Duncan brought up, and that's the Fort Chipewyan water study. I'm not a regular member of this committee, so I want to make sure it is on the record that there are three particular chiefs who should be invited to give witness testimony. I want to make sure they are given that opportunity. They're chiefs from the Fort Chipewyan area. In particular, the Mikisew Cree Band and also the leader of the Athabaska Tribal Council should be invited. I have those names and addresses. I wanted to make sure it got on the record.
I've been following this water file for about three years--
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
That's a good suggestion. Would you mind having your office send that information?
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
Absolutely not.
And I have other names. If the committee would like me to come to that meeting and provide those, I'll be happy to do so.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
If you could submit the names to the steering committee, that would be really appreciated.
Ms. Duncan
Sorry, Mr. Warawa, did you--
NDP
Liberal
NDP
Linda Duncan NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
Mr. Jean, I assure you that that is exactly what I have on my list, and I will be forwarding that to the clerk today. In addition to those three chiefs, there are additional first nations that are directly interested. In fact I have all of those names on my list, and I certainly will be bringing them forward as well. I appreciate your support on that.
Liberal
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
If I may, I'm particularly interested in this because all of them are my constituents, not yours. I wanted to make sure it was brought to the attention of the committee. I'm not sure what happens normally at these meetings on that, but I wanted to make sure....
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
We're open to witness suggestions, so, Mr. Jean, please have your office send those names and contact information if possible to the clerk. That will be discussed at the steering committee.
Mr. Warawa.
February 24th, 2009 / 9:45 a.m.
Conservative
Mark Warawa Conservative Langley, BC
Speaking to the non-motion of Mr. Bigras, between now and the break in June we have approximately 22 meetings. In those 22 meetings we're going to be dealing with the species at risk review--the legislative requirement. We're going to be dealing with the main estimates and inviting the minister to attend. We're likely going to be dealing with environmental enforcement. We're likely going to be dealing with Bill C-377, a private member's bill that has been reintroduced--the impossible dream of Mr. Layton--and re-titled Bill C-311. Carbon capture and storage is a huge part of the government's plan. We should be reviewing that. And there are a number of other recommendations from committee members: biodiversity, CEPA enforcement....
It's a lot of work that this committee is going to undertake in a very short period of time. We have to be very careful with the 22 meetings we have. That's why it's important that the steering committee provide some guidance. We'll be doing that on Monday.
Specifically to the non-motion from Mr. Bigras, I think at this time we should plan on one meeting and not two. The norm is one meeting. If we deem, as a committee, that we should have additional meetings, we could make that decision. But at this time I think we should be considering one meeting.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
I take your point, Mr. Warawa. I would suggest that this be discussed further at the steering committee meeting. It appears that the three opposition parties would like two meetings, and that will be represented at that steering committee meeting. We'll probably make the point again that we would like two meetings, and then I guess we'll take it from there.
For the record, my sense is that the majority of the committee would like two meetings. We'll discuss it further at the steering committee, if that's okay with you.
Unless you want a formal motion one way or the other, we could--
Conservative
Mark Warawa Conservative Langley, BC
Chair, at this point we don't have a motion, so there's nothing on the record. If you want something on the record, the majority do not support that at this time.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
Technically your point is well taken. There is no motion. It doesn't prevent somebody from presenting a motion.
I suggest that we take the general idea that's been discussed and bring it to the steering committee to see how it goes.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
That's unless somebody wants to present a motion. If not, we could move on, maybe, to point number four, the Species at Risk Act, which you touched on a moment ago.
Do we have any additional information as to when the order might come from the House of Commons to the committee to conduct the statutory review of the act?
Conservative
Mark Warawa Conservative Langley, BC
Mr. Chair, this has been raised at the whips' level, and we need to plan for the review. It's a legislative requirement. I tabled a motion. I provided the clerk with a motion a couple of weeks ago, and the motion is that the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development undertake the five-year legislative review of the Species at Risk Act as required in said act.
Again, at the steering committee, we could plug in to a plan for that. There is a legislative requirement for us to begin it. It's not clear on the scope or how long it would be, and the steering committee could provide that direction for the committee.
So it's going to be, actually, quite an in-depth meeting on Monday. We've scheduled one hour on Monday for the steering committee meeting. That may not be adequate. We may need to plan for two hours.
The Species at Risk Act we should be beginning, as pointed out by Mr. McGuinty. We are overdue in beginning that, and we need to start. That's a legislative requirement.
Liberal
The Vice-Chair Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia
My only question is a point of clarification, and maybe you can help us, Mr. Warawa.
You had a motion, which was not moved, but if we look at what's in the act itself, it seems to suggest that to get the committee started on this, we can't do so simply by a motion of the committee. We need to have, basically, an order from the House to conduct the study. There's a bit of confusion around this issue.
Does the government plan to ask the committee to do this review? Why aren't we waiting for the government to ask us to do it? Why are we potentially going to have our own motion asking to do it? I'm a little confused about that.
Conservative
Mark Warawa Conservative Langley, BC
As I said, this has been raised at the whips' level, and the whips are meeting.
Conservative
Mark Warawa Conservative Langley, BC
We're hoping that this would have been clarified by now. Hopefully, by the end of this meeting, we'll have direction on that.
Liberal