Evidence of meeting #1 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:40 a.m.
Conservative
Joël Godin Conservative Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC
Good morning, Madam Chair. First of all, congratulations on your election as Chair.
With respect to the Clerk's comments, I understand very well that, in certain situations, the witnesses might be reluctant to provide their statement in advance. It is up to the committee to make decisions about procedure. If witnesses are not inclined to respect the procedural rules, they will deprive themselves of an opportunity to present their views on a given subject.
In exceptional circumstances, it is acceptable that we are not provided the statements in advance. However, the procedure should be that we ask for them to help us do our job. Decreasing the time allotted for presentations by five minutes will also help us in our work as parliamentarians.
Those are my comments, Madam Chair.
11:40 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
Thank you.
I think we all agreed to five minutes for the opening statements. As for what Mr. Albas proposed, the clerk indicated that there's no motion, but the committee is the master of its own destiny. When we call witnesses, we will ask them. When the steering committee, for example, does a study or a timetable, it will say what the study is and also the witnesses who were presented by each party. When the witnesses come, we'll ask them three days in advance. It's our job to ask. Nobody can override us.
I have another thing that Mr. Longfield put on the table, that the speaking order for the second round be the same as has been suggested in the motion.
Is that correct, Mr. Longfield?
11:40 a.m.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
I was just saying that as background to why I wouldn't be supporting the change. There is an amendment on the floor to change this, and I said I wouldn't be supporting it. I'd rather go back to where we were. Now that we have five minutes of speaking time, I think that gives you lots of time to manage the committee.
11:40 a.m.
NDP
Laurel Collins NDP Victoria, BC
Sorry, I was just a little bit lost. Mr. Albas put a motion on the floor to—
11:40 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
No, he didn't put a motion on the floor. He was just asking a question, and my response to Mr. Godin was that what Mr. Albas asked, the clerk had clarified.
Mr. Roger, I think we need to take a vote on Ms. Collins's amendment to the speaking order for the second round.
Do you want to repeat what Ms. Collins moved?
11:45 a.m.
The Clerk
Yes, absolutely.
The amendment by Ms. Collins is that we keep the first part of the motion as is, but for the second and subsequent rounds the order and time of questioning is as follows: Conservative Party, five minutes; Liberal Party, five minutes; Bloc Québécois, two and a half minutes; New Democratic Party, two and a half minutes; Conservative Party, five minutes; Liberal Party, five minutes.
(Amendment agreed to: yeas 6; nays 5 [See Minutes of Proceedings])
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Dan Albas Conservative Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
With your permission and the permission of other committee members, I am not going to be putting a motion forward to effect my concern about not receiving documents in time, but I am going to ask.... I am going to meet with other parties and perhaps bring a motion if there is some agreement or at least some feedback from other parties. I believe I have a member from Quebec, and the majority of stakeholders will inevitably be from other areas that will not submit in both official languages all the time. I want to stand up for our members from Quebec to make sure they have the courtesy of being able to read in advance in their own language.
I hope other members will be amenable to my contacting them so we can get some agreement on the wording.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
11:45 a.m.
Bloc
Monique Pauzé Bloc Repentigny, QC
I just want to check something.
When reading the motion on the time allocated to witnesses, it sounded like Mr. Roger said that they have 10 minutes. I thought that we unanimously adopted an amendment to give them five minutes. Perhaps I am mistaken.
11:45 a.m.
The Clerk
As you said, Ms. Pauzé, the committee did adopt an amendment to the motion so that witnesses will have five minutes. I said that the first part of the motion would remain the same, but that obviously included the amendment adopted. I then moved directly to the second part of the routine motion, which concerns the second and subsequent rounds of questions, with the Bloc Québécois and the NDP now finding themselves higher on the list.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
Ms. Collins, did you have something else to say? We are voting on the amended motion.
11:45 a.m.
NDP
Laurel Collins NDP Victoria, BC
I can wait. It's about a previous motion, but we can finish this first.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
Okay.
Is everybody in favour of the amended motion?
Did you raise your hand to speak, Mr. Albas, or just to approve it?
11:45 a.m.
Conservative
Dan Albas Conservative Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC
I was just going to say that we should use unanimous consent for these things.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
Yes.
(Motion as amended agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])
Mr. Longfield, go ahead.
11:45 a.m.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
On document distribution, it states:
That the clerk of the committee be authorized to distribute documents to members of the committee only when the documents are available in both official languages and that witnesses be advised accordingly.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal