Environment Committee on March 11th, 2010

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Okay, we'll continue on.

Mr. McGuinty.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

So the speaking order and rotation remain the same?

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Yes.

[David McGuinty, Liberal, Ottawa South, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Yes, everything stays the same. I think it worked quite well last time.

The only other thing is Mr. Warawa's suggestion. We'll deal with what Mr. Warawa said first, which is that the minister is available on Tuesday. In light of the fact that people have flights they want to catch, he's suggesting that we adjourn now and come back on Tuesday and deal with the motions, with the schedule. We could do it either as a steering committee or as a committee of the whole, to deal with the agenda.

Mr. Trudeau.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Because one of the motions in particular does make reference to a desire to have the meetings with the minister televised, it would probably be nice if we at least talk about that motion.

I believe the other motions will probably be able to be dealt with rather quickly. If it looks like they're not going to be, I'd say we refer them over to a steering committee and we can discuss them another time. But if we can get them out of the way, it would be nice to start with just covering these motions and getting them done, if there's no discussion or not too much discussion around them.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Ms. Duncan.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Mr. Chair, it's nice to see you again.

I think it would be appropriate that we deal with the motions that have been duly forwarded in the appropriate time, translated, and so forth.

This is the first that we've seen this. We've had no notice. After we do the other motions, I'm happy to proceed to reaching agreement on what we're going to do for priorities so we don't waste endless meetings again wrangling over that. But I'd prefer that that be more of an open discussion and that we don't just say yea or nay to what the parliamentary secretary has tabled before us.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Mr. Bigras, and then Mr. Woodworth.

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

Mr. Chair, I tend to agree with Mr. Trudeau. It would be a good idea to settle the matter of the minister's appearance before the committee. We do have a motion to that effect.

I think that we can now agree, if the Parliamentary Secretary has no objections, to the meeting being telecast. I don't think this should present any problems. Later, I think we can have a full committee meeting to consider the rest of the matter.

It is always better to agree among ourselves before we move motions. We should strive to get along at the beginning of this session. If ever we cannot agree, then we will consider motions. But we should first resolve the matter of appearances before the committee and communicate to the full committee the questions on the three motions I have before me. This is what I would suggest.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Mr. Woodworth.

[Stephen Woodworth, Conservative, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Thank you.

I just wanted to say really part of what Monsieur Bigras just said, which is that I think we have a steering committee in order to assist us in setting an agenda. It would be useful to have that committee meet and consider these motions as a whole, rather than trying to deal with them piecemeal, and then have that committee report back.

As to the question of televised hearings, I simply have no idea of what the minister's attitude about that would be or whether the parliamentary secretary is even able to comment on that today.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Mr. Warawa.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

This is encouraging. We're off to a good start. I think there's consensus. We're fine with the meeting being televised.

So the recommendation is that we begin with a steering committee on Tuesday at 3:30 and then break and start the televised meeting with the minister at 5 o'clock, to run until 6 o'clock, for one hour next Tuesday. Hopefully we can come to a consensus on what we'll do with the agenda on Tuesday--

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

You have the floor, Mr. Trudeau.

Just for clarification, Mr. Warawa, we're meeting on the supplementaries and the main estimates.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

Yes. It's whatever you want to discuss.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Mr. Trudeau.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

Instead of talking around this, let's get back to the simple motion that was put forward on that.

The other issue is around scheduling. We have a time for meetings, 3:30 to 5:30, and it's awkward with flights and getting back home to the ridings on Thursday evenings. I understand that, but those are our times. I have to say, from just a quick conference with the three of us, that we're not available at 6 o'clock next Tuesday. We're sort of stuck right now. We have to leave at 5:30. There's going to be difficulty with that.

But rather than referring things to a steering committee, we're here in this meeting right now, so let's try to deal with these motions and get past them, particularly since on the first one, which we felt was the big one, with the minister appearing and being televised.... If we could dispense with that together right now, I think that would be a more efficient use of our time than talking about it some other time.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

I was going to suggest, just to make it plain in the records, that we put that motion on the floor.

Is there anybody else?

Mr. Warawa.

[Mark Warawa, Conservative, Langley, BC]

Thank you, Chair.

If David, Francis, and Justin are not able to be here after 5:30, I would be willing to be flexible with the order of the speakers, so that there would be an opportunity for them to ask questions if they have to leave early. The issue is that the minister is only available from 5 o'clock to 6 o'clock, so if some people had to leave that extra half-hour early, maybe we could be flexible on the order of the questioners.

If the minister is going to be speaking for about 10 minutes, then we'd have about 50 minutes' worth of questions. Anyway, we can work with our colleagues here to make sure there's adequate time for questioning if they have to leave by 5:30, but that's the timeframe in which the minister is available. If you want to have access to him, it would be from 5 to 5:30 if you have to leave early. We may not have quorum, but we still would have enough that if other people wanted to ask questions between 5:30 and 6.... There won't be any decision-making power, but the committee could still ask the minister questions if they so wanted to.

Originally, Chair, we had made the minister available on March 23. That's too late. It has to be before that. That means Tuesday and Thursday of next week. The minister is not available on Thursday of next week, but he is from 5 o'clock to 6 o'clock on Tuesday, so that's when we're trying to make him available to the committee. He'd like to be able to come here if you would like him to come here.

As far as deciding the motions and the agenda is concerned, I would prefer that this be dealt with first at the steering committee, not here today right now.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Mr. Bigras.

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

I realize that the government is trying to show good faith, but we should consider that on Tuesdays, even after 5:30 p.m., it is rather busy in Parliament, since there could be a vote.

So what does this mean? It means that all the members will probably have to leave around 5:15 p.m. because the bells will ring, and the members will have to proceed to the House.

Extending committee meetings until 6 p.m. could pose a problem, in my opinion. In such situations, the minister will only have time to make a statement, and the opposition will not have time to ask proper questions.

I believe that we are setting a dangerous precedent by wanting to continue working after 5:30 p.m., especially considering the Tuesday parliamentary agenda.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Bezan]

Okay. Let's deal with the first.... I understand that there may be a difficulty.

Ms. Duncan, you had your hand up.

[Linda Duncan, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

After you, Mr. Chair.