Evidence of meeting #38 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 cepa.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Parisa A. Ariya  James McGill Professor, Departments of Chemistry and Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, McGill University, As an Individual
Bill Erasmus  Regional Chief, Northwest Territories, Assembly of First Nations
Jason McLinton  Senior Director, Retail Council of Canada
Channa Perera  Director, Generation and Environment, Canadian Electricity Association
Ahmed Idriss  Senior Advisor, Environmental Policy, Capital Power Corporation, Canadian Electricity Association

5:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte

The first of December. That would mean on December 6, we could actually have some discussion around CEPA, and how we might want to have the report formulated. That's a possibility.

5:30 p.m.

Conservative

Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC

Madam Chair, I don't get the feeling that the CEPA report is anywhere close to being ready to give instructions. I think you're saying we wind this up on December 1—

5:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte

Yes.

5:30 p.m.

Conservative

Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC

How?

5:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte

We've done the panels. You guys asked us to do the panels.

5:30 p.m.

Liberal

Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS

There are no more witnesses.

5:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte

We're done with the witnesses we all agreed we were going to look at.

5:30 p.m.

Conservative

Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC

We need to have a discussion, but are there any gaps in the evidence that we have? That's typically what happens in these studies. We try to determine whether there is some information missing. Then we have the government officials come in.

5:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte

That's the point of having the discussion on December 6. It's to talk about where we're at, what we have.

5:30 p.m.

Conservative

Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC

It's a stock-taking meeting, is that right?

5:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte

Potentially, it's stock-taking. It's an issues and opinions paper that we might start to give some instructions to help. Otherwise we have all of January—

5:30 p.m.

Conservative

Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC

Okay, it's not a cold stop.

5:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte

It's not necessarily a cold stop, but it's a discussion of a stop and it's taking stock.

5:30 p.m.

Conservative

Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC

This is very important legislation, and I think all of us want to get it right.

5:30 p.m.

Liberal

Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS

What is it that you want to accomplish by December 1? We'll move a motion if we need to.

5:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte

What I'm saying is that on December 6, we now have an open space, so I thought we would discuss the CEPA report and where we go with that on that date. That is so we can ascertain how we're going to move forward with the committee.

5:30 p.m.

Conservative

Ed Fast Conservative Abbotsford, BC

I'm okay with that.

5:30 p.m.

Liberal

Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS

We have to fill that spot because we don't have the report.

5:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte

Yes, that's what I'd like to do in that spot.

5:30 p.m.

Liberal

William Amos Liberal Pontiac, QC

In the interest of expediency, though—and I recognize my colleagues want to get out of here, and so do I—if we can have a full agenda, which includes not just whether we are ready to finish, because if Mr. Fast wants to bring a motion to bring in more witnesses, that's fine. I know which way I'll vote on a motion like that. I believe we're done. I agree it's very important, but I think we're done. We've heard a lot.

I want to make sure we have more than just that, because I don't want to spend more than five or 10 minutes debating.

5:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte

The other one would be, then, where do we go from there? Then we're looking at our future, and where the rest of the work is.

5:30 p.m.

Liberal

William Amos Liberal Pontiac, QC

We can evaluate some of the issues and see where we're at, actually getting into some of the substance.

5:30 p.m.

Liberal

The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte

That's possible, too.

I'll lay something out. We have two witness panels next week, and then we'll work on laying out an agenda for December 6, which we can discuss next week. But I just need to make sure that I know where we're going. Otherwise, if we were going to do something else on that date, we'd be running out of time.

I now have a plan for December 6. Thank you very much.

Have a good trip back, and we will start again next week.

The meeting is adjourned.