A recorded vote is requested. I'll turn that matter over to the clerk.
I'm going to vote in favour of the motion. I'll briefly give the reasons.
I think we have to look behind this individual situation. We can't look at this issue in isolation. I was taken aback and a little bit disappointed that Parliament and the Library of Parliament did not have the capacity. I view this as much larger than this particular contract: I view it as a capacity-building exercise. Parliament is governed by the Board of Internal Economy and is served--quite ably, I might add--by the Library of Parliament and the excellent people who work there, but hopefully this will build capacity for this type of consultation. As Mr. Siksay mentioned quite correctly, this is a tool of the 21st century. This is going to become commonplace in all parliamentary committees, and it should be. It's my view that we should proceed with it. I'm looking forward to the comments we get from Canadians and I think it will help us immensely in our work, so I will vote in favour of the motion.
(Motion agreed to: yeas 6; nays 5)
The last item is the proposed agenda that has been circulated. I can go over this briefly.
You can see that we have three additional meetings dedicated to the ongoing study on open government. The lists of witnesses are there. On March 9, next Wednesday, there are a few witnesses to be confirmed. I should point that out we have a very strong panel this Wednesday, with three people who were very much involved in the Obama initiative in the United States. They are appearing via video conference before the committee. That takes us to the end of next week, and then we pick it up again.
On March 21 we have the CBC and the Information Commissioner both before us. Then on March 23 the minister is going to appear before us on the open government issue for one hour.
Then we have three and a half meetings devoted to the review of the Lobbying Act. These witnesses that you have listed in front of you have not been confirmed. They have not been contacted. This is just the first thrust of the discussion. We plan to have about 10 or 11 witnesses come before the committee on the review of the Lobbying Act. Of course, that takes us until April 6.
Mr. Poilievre, did you have a comment on this?