Information & Ethics Committee on Feb. 4th, 2009

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Jacques Maziade]

Honourable members of the committee,

my name is Jacques Maziade. I'm the clerk of the committee. I'm accompanied by my colleague,

Catherine Cuerrier, who is also a committee clerk.

I see a quorum.

We can now proceed to the election of the chair. I'm ready to receive motions to that effect.

Madam Simson.

[Michelle Simson, Liberal, Scarborough Southwest, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Clerk.

I'd like to nominate Paul Szabo for chair of the committee.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Madam Simson that Mr. Paul Szabo be elected chair of the committee.

Are there any other motions?

[Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal, Etobicoke Centre, ON]

I would like to second that.

[The Clerk]

Thank you.

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt this motion?

(Motion agreed to)

[The Clerk]

Before inviting the new chair of the committee to take the chair, I will proceed with the election of the vice-chairs.

I'm now prepared to receive motions for the first vice-chair position. Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the first vice-chair must be a member of the government party.

Mr. Dreeshen.

[Earl Dreeshen, Conservative, Red Deer, AB]

I nominate Russ Hiebert for first vice-chair.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Mr. Dreeshen that Mr. Hiebert be elected as first vice-chair of the committee.

Are there any other motions?

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

I would be prepared to second that motion.

[The Clerk]

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

[The Clerk]

We now move to the election of the second vice-chair.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2),

the second vice-chair must be a member of an opposition party, but not of the official opposition.

[Carole Freeman, Bloc, Châteauguay—Saint-Constant, QC]

I would like to nominate Mr. Bill Siksay.

[The Clerk]

Moved by Mrs. Freeman that Mr. Siksay be elected second vice-chair of this committee.

Are there any further motions?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

[The Clerk]

I declare Mr. Siksay second vice-chair of the committee.

I now invite Mr. Szabo to take the chair.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

Colleagues, the clerk is going to circulate a general outline of routine motions that all committees will consider at their first meeting. As well, he has the minutes of the last Parliament so that members will be apprised of the rules we followed in this committee during the last Parliament. I'll wait until you have an opportunity to look at these.

I wonder if I can skip quickly to the issue of notices of motion. I'd like to move to the last one now. That's pretty straightforward.

I understand Mr. Hiebert had a recommendation for the committee with regard to the hours of notice for motions to properly come before the committee.

Would you like to speak to that?

[Russ Hiebert, Conservative, South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, BC]

Sure. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I propose that we fill in that blank with the number 48. That is, 48 hours' notice for motions. Of course that time would commence once the clerk had distributed documents in both official languages. I think that gives us an appropriate amount of time to prepare for these matters in advance of the next meeting. This is what we've done in the past, so I think it's a good procedure to continue with.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

Is there further commentary on that motion?

Mr. Siksay, please.

[Bill Siksay, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

Mr. Chair, to confirm the practice from the last Parliament, was it 24 or 48 hours?

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

24 hours

[Bill Siksay, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

It was 24. Did that cause problems for the committee? I wasn't a member of the committee at that time, but I don't recall hearing that it caused problems.

I would propose an amendment that we say 24 hours' notice instead of 48.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

I think it's fair to say that there were occasions when the committee found itself having to scramble because of the awkwardness of 24 hours. Twenty-four hours in House time is basically one sleep. The clerk may get something late in the day, put it on e-mail that evening when you've already gone home or to other meetings, and you find out that for your meeting at 10 o'clock the next morning there is a matter that has to be dealt with. That is 24 hours under House calculations, even for your submissions for notices of motions for House purposes.

I would simply respond that it could be a problem. It has, at least on one occasion, been a problem.

[Bill Siksay, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

I'll withdraw the amendment, Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

Thank you kindly.

Is there further discussion?

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Liberal, Paul Szabo]

Now we can probably go back to the beginning.

You have a two-page document, which has some of the boilerplate motions. We'll deal with those. I don't believe this two-page document has the matter regarding the length of speaking by members in the first and second rounds and the party distribution or order of speaking. I think we have someone who is going to propose something in that regard.

We will deal with these on this two-page document. If the members would like to follow along, the first one is with regard to the services of analysts from the Library of Parliament. There is a motion here. Can I have a mover for that?

Thank you, Madam Freeman.

(Motion agreed to) [See Minutes of Proceedings]