Evidence of meeting #43 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 39th 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.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Paul Szabo
No. The chair has made a ruling that all the questions necessary to be put shall be put forthwith, and the chair's decision has been challenged. So I want to put the question right now. It's not debatable, and they want a recorded vote on whether or not the chair's decision that we move and take all the questions necessary to dispose of the matter before us shall be sustained.
(Ruling of the chair sustained: yeas 6; nays 5)
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Paul Szabo
The committee just voted to do it.
The subamendment reads as follows:
That the motion be amended by adding after the words “by other parties,” the following: “or in past elections”.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Paul Szabo
The vote is on the subamendment. We will have a recorded vote.
(Subamendment negatived: nays 6; yeas 0)
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Paul Szabo
The subamendment is defeated.
I will now put the question on the amendment of Mr. Van Kesteren.
(Amendment negatived: nays 6; yeas 0)
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Paul Szabo
I will now put the question on the main motion, unamended, of Mr. Hubbard.
(Motion agreed to: yeas 6; nays 1)
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Paul Szabo
The motion of Mr. Hubbard is carried, unamended.
This is the last meeting of this week, and I understand the House will adjourn tomorrow, if not later this afternoon. Is the chair going to get some instruction? Should we arrange whether or not we should call Elections Canada? I would consult with the various party members to determine an appropriate time that we could have them and have Elections Canada appear before us. I think that's the starting point for us.
Okay. I don't see any disagreement so we'll do that.
Mr. Martin, do you want to move your motion now or save it?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Paul Szabo
Okay, we'll not deal with that.
Concerning the letter from Guy Pratte, as you know, Mr. Mulroney has decided not to.... Some members have come to me and asked whether or not we should consider further action on that front. I wonder if we might defer that matter. I think a lot depends on the terms of reference and the scope of the work of Judge Oliphant. We may be in a better position to determine whether the committee needs to do further examination on matters not dealt with by him, but I haven't seen the terms of reference in writing, so it might be premature to make that decision.
Mr. Martin, go ahead on that point.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Mr. Chairman, I don't want to let Mr. Pratte's letter go unanswered. Whether or not we choose to take any further action on the content of the letter, the fact that he.... I don't want to set any kind of precedent that when a standing committee summons or calls a witness to appear before the committee, a letter from his lawyer saying, “No, I don't choose to attend” becomes the norm around here. We should be at least getting a letter back to Mr. Pratte saying we condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the cavalier way in which they treated the invitation and then the call to appear before our committee as a witness.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Paul Szabo
I understand your sentiment.
I would certainly be prepared to respond, to express our disappointment since the members did have important questions, and as this matter moves forward, we may want to reconsider further communication with them or something. I know you want to be firm here, but I don't know if there's a consensus--let's put it this way--that we should condemn anybody at this point.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Paul Szabo
Do you want to leave the language to me, and I'll circulate it to the members for their okay before it's sent? Would that be okay?
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
We should probably at least make it clear that were it not for the fact that the public inquiry was up and running, we would in fact be compelling that witness to appear before this committee. He's not getting off the hook here. We've dropped it because we're satisfied he'll get his day at the committee. It should be something along those lines that would express our concerns.
Liberal
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Does Mr. Martin want to say that we are dropping it or we are suspending our request?
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
That's a good way to put it--staying it. We should reserve the right to recall Mulroney if we're not satisfied.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Paul Szabo
So we should leave it open that it might come back again?
D'accord? Okay. Je comprends.
Madame Lavallée.
