Evidence of meeting #145 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 point.
A recording is available from Parliament.
The Chair Mr. John Aldag (Cloverdale—Langley City, Lib.)
Good afternoon, everyone.
I'd first like to welcome Madame Trudel and Ms. Block to our committee.
We have our departmental officials here today. Welcome back. I think we've seen all of you, not in the recent days, but probably weeks.
Mr. John Aldag (Cloverdale—Langley City, Lib.)
Yes, Mr. Fast. May I make my opening comments first, and then—?
Abbotsford, CPC
Yes, it is. It's a point of order I want to raise.
Colleagues and Mr. Chair, at the justice committee meeting on February 13, Randy Boissonnault, one of the Liberal members of that committee, stated the following:
I think...that, at best, committees of the House of Commons are political theatre that can occasionally achieve good studies.
That statement is in direct contrast to what both the Prime Minister and Government House Leader have said. In fact, the Prime Minister said on February 20:
...we have tremendous confidence in the processes that are in place to move forward—
Abbotsford, CPC
This will not take long.
I'll repeat the quotation from the Prime Minister.
...we have tremendous confidence in the processes that are in place to move forward, including an investigation by the justice committee in which committee members are independent in their decisions on how to proceed.
We also have tremendous confidence in the officers....
Those are the Prime Minister's comments on February 20.
Mr. Boissonnault's comment also stands in direct contrast to what the government House leader said on February 25. I quote—
Mr. John Aldag (Cloverdale—Langley City, Lib.)
What is the point of order that you're raising here?
Abbotsford, CPC
The point of order is that my privileges as a member of this committee have been negatively impacted by the fact that we have members of other committees claiming that the work we do here is at best to achieve good studies, but in fact is political theatre.
If I may continue, Mr. Chair, I'm almost at the end of my point. There's also a motion that I want to put on the table—a notice of motion.
Abbotsford, CPC
This is the government House leader's comment on February 25:
Mr. Speaker, as we said, we respect the work of the committees. We have confidence in the work of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights and all the other committees. We will allow them to do their work because we respect their work.
My question for you, Mr. Chair, is this. Does this committee and its members agree with Mr. Boissonnault's statement on the value of parliamentary committees, or do we agree with the Prime Minister and the House leader that committees are valuable tools in the parliamentary process?
The motion I am going to put on notice—
Abbotsford, CPC
—is the following, for debate at another committee meeting:
That the Committee condemn the statement by the Member for Edmonton Centre and reaffirm the importance of the Parliamentary process and the role that committees play in Canada's system of government.
That is the motion that I place on the table.
Mr. John Aldag (Cloverdale—Langley City, Lib.)
Thank you for that intervention..
As I was saying, today we're here on the subject matter of supplementary estimates (B) 2018-19 and interim estimates 2019-20.
We're a bit late getting started because of the votes that we just had, but the intention is to have the three departments and agencies present provide opening statements, and then we'll go into our regular round of questions.
My suggestion is that we'll stay with the witnesses for an hour; that was, I think, the desire. The witnesses have made themselves available for us on very short notice, and we truly appreciate it. Then at the end of that period we'll move into the second part of the meeting, which will be in camera, going into the forestry, ag and waste study report.
That's the plan for the meeting and the remainder of the time that we have today.
Mr. John Aldag (Cloverdale—Langley City, Lib.)
What's your point of order, Mr. Warawa?
Langley—Aldergrove, CPC
The point of order is that this meeting that we're having right now with the witnesses who are before us—and I appreciate their being here—came from a desire that we have the minister invited here to deal with supplementary estimates—
Mr. John Aldag (Cloverdale—Langley City, Lib.)
I'm asking you to get the point of order, because I've introduced the witnesses and what we're going to be achieving—
Mr. John Aldag (Cloverdale—Langley City, Lib.)
What's the point of order, please?