Evidence of meeting #1 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was six.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
Is there any discussion on this one?
(Motion agreed to)
The next one is on in camera meeting transcripts.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
William Amos Liberal Pontiac, QC
I move—
That in camera meetings be transcribed and that the transcription be kept with the Clerk of the Committee for later consultation by members of the Committee.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
Is there any discussion?
(Motion agreed to)
The next one is on working meals.
Mr. Gerretsen.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
It's my pleasure to move what's arguably the most important procedural matter here:
That the Committee authorize the Clerk of the Committee, in consultation with the Chair, to make the necessary arrangements to provide for working meals, as may be required, and that the cost of these meals be charged to the Committee budget.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
Is there any discussion on this one?
(Motion agreed to)
The next one is on witnesses’ expenses.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
Madam Chair, I will move this in English.
That, if requested, reasonable travel, accommodation and living expenses be reimbursed to witnesses, not exceeding two (2) representatives per organization; and that, in exceptional circumstances, payment for more representatives be made at the discretion of the Chair.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
Is there any discussion?
(Motion agreed to)
We now move on to notice of motions.
Mr. Aldag.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
John Aldag Liberal Cloverdale—Langley City, BC
I will move:
That a forty-eight (48) hours notice, interpreted as two (2) nights, shall be required for any substantive motion to be considered by the Committee, unless the substantive motion relates directly to business then under consideration, provided that (1) the notice be filed with the Clerk of the Committee no later than 4:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday; that (2) the motion be distributed to members in both official languages by the Clerk on the same day the said notice was transmitted if it was received no later than the deadline hour; and that (3) notices received after the deadline hour be deemed to have been received during the next business day.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
Is there discussion?
(Motion agreed to)
We're onto rounds of questioning, allotment of time.
Mr. Bossio.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
Mike Bossio Liberal Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON
I move, regarding rounds of questioning and the allocation of time:
That witnesses from any one organization shall be allowed ten (10) minutes to make their opening statement; and That during the questioning of witnesses, there shall be allocated six (6) minutes for the first round of questioning; That the order of questions for the first round of questioning shall be as follows: Conservative Party, Liberal Party, New Democratic Party, Liberal Party. That the order of questions for the second round of questioning shall be as follows: Liberal Party: six (6) minutes, Conservative Party: six (6) minutes, Liberal Party: six (6) minutes, Conservative Party: five (5) minutes , New Democratic Party: three (3) minutes .
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
Mike Bossio Liberal Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON
I would like to add one further thing. I would like to thank the members opposite for sharing their experience with us in going through some of these motions. It's very much appreciated.
11:25 a.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
I was just going to ask Mr. Bossio to run those numbers again because I just don't have them in front of me.
Do you mind? Sorry about that.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
Mike Bossio Liberal Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON
I'd be happy to.
So in round one, the first party to question would be a Conservative for six minutes, the second questioner would be a Liberal for six minutes, the third questioner would be an NDP for six minutes, the fourth questioner would be a Liberal for six minutes. In round two, the first questioner would be a Liberal for six minutes, the second would be a Conservative for six minutes, the third would be a Liberal for six minutes, the fourth would be a Conservative for five minutes, and the fifth would be an NDP for three minutes.
11:25 a.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
I appreciate the offer. In years past, we've been on the seven-minute clock. I don't know if it was everybody's preference, Madam Chair. I don't know what the other members of the committee felt. Even that gets quite rushed sometimes. You get a witness that's a little long-winded and you get two questions in and you're out, even under seven minutes. I appreciate the committee moving perhaps more quickly.
This goes further, Madam Chair, as to how we book meetings. The number of witnesses often becomes problematic. If we stack up six, seven, eight witnesses, all of this becomes very problematic because if you have four questions for four witnesses, seven minutes isn't enough. It will be even harder with six minutes, because you'll only be able to address two witnesses. You'll see that some panels cover three different topics and you have to leave a topic entirely behind.
I would argue for the seven minutes, unless there's something prohibitive about that. Your total was 60, I believe you said, or 50 in the end, so tacking on seven onto the first round. I can remember Mr. Brison sitting I think in this chair at finance committee and asking for his second round to also be a full complement. I'll make the same argument because in finance we were very gracious to Mr. Brison and allowed him a full last round. That feels a bit self-serving, I guess, but remembering history is important sometimes.
11:25 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
Could you clarify that amendment so we understand completely what you're bringing forward on the table?
11:25 a.m.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
I'm just changing it up to seven minutes for that first round rather than six. The second round I would go five across the board or six across the board. I think for time allocation, it only adds four minutes to the top and it would add a further six or seven minutes. We'd be right around the hour mark. Ed will correct me if I'm wrong on this, but traditionally we try to keep the panels to about 50 minutes of presentations and then about an hour and change, given interruptions, for the question time. That's a typical committee day, I think. Mr. Fast will be able tell you if that's true or not.
11:30 a.m.
Conservative
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
Thank you for the opportunity to address that.
For the most part I concur with Mr. Cullen. In fact, if you go back beyond 10 years, I believe committees have typically had seven minutes in the first round. One of the things that surprised me when I was first elected back in 2006 was how quickly the time goes when you're examining witnesses at the table and you're embarking upon a line of questioning. The time goes so quickly. I think those of you who are new here will find that six minutes cuts even more into the key questioning that all parties here would want to engage in.
The other thing is I've been advised by my staff that quite a number of the committees have adopted seven minutes for the first round. They've changed up the order slightly and I have a proposal on that as well, again for your consideration. I believe this has been supported at many of the committees, which are, of course, all led by Liberals. That was in fact seven minutes in the first round, but it would start off with the Liberals, then a Conservative, then an NDP, and then a Liberal. In the second round you would go down to five minutes: Conservative five minutes, Liberal five minutes, Conservative five minutes, Liberal five minutes, and then three minutes for the NDP.
I understand that quite a number of committees have agreed to that. It would provide us with the additional time to have sustained questioning of witnesses in the first round, and then supplementaries in the second round.
11:30 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
We do have an amendment to the motion on the floor. We can't have more than one on the floor at any one time. You're making a recommendation. We're just having a discussion right now about what was proposed, right?
11:30 a.m.
Conservative
Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC
I didn't understand that Mr. Cullen had made a formal amendment. I understood that he was....
Was that a formal amendment?