Finance Committee on Oct. 31st, 2006

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Excuse me.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

We'll deal with Mr. St-Cyr's request first, because I think we can expedite his request.

Mr. St-Cyr expressed concern about nine o'clock meetings being more difficult for him in terms of his schedule. I've had verbal communication from other members that this is also the case. We have been endeavouring to move the meetings, and we have been able to move Thursday's meeting to 11 o'clock, in this room. So Mr. St-Cyr, I hope that satisfies you in terms of the point you raised. We'll deal with the other scheduling challenges as we can. My understanding from committee members who have given me input is that they would prefer to continue with a 10 o'clock or 11 o'clock rather than a 9 o'clock start . So we will attempt to facilitate that.

Madam Wasylycia-Leis has given notice of motion, and I'll invite her to make a brief comment on her motion. We'll then entertain discussion, and I will adopt the format I alluded to earlier. I will ask Madam Wasylycia-Leis to note the comments you make and will give her an opportunity to make concluding remarks, and then we will proceed to a vote.

Yes, Mr. Pacetti.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Mr. Chairman, I have a point of order.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

On a point of order, Mr. Pacetti.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

I didn't want to interrupt you while you were going through a list of work the committee has to do, but I was looking for a deadline for when you would like to see the list of witnesses on Bill C-25, because we may want to have a list of witnesses for Bill C-25, and you're looking for amendments already. I'd like to first hear from witnesses and then decide whether we're going to present any amendments. It's usually in that order.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

I'm trying to expedite the work of the committee, obviously. This is my responsibility. Mr. Pacetti has expressed the desire to have witnesses appear on Bill C-25. Do we take that in the form of a motion?

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

It's not a motion. I think it's a request, as is normally done. When we're studying Bill C-25--

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

You have a strong indication of my feelings on the issue, so if you wish to present a motion, please do. Otherwise I'm going to try to expedite discussion on Bill C-25 among committee members. If the committee members wish to do further research on the issue, I welcome that, and I encourage them to do that. However, I won't entertain discussion on this unless it's a motion, and we'll move immediately to Madam Wasylycia-Leis. If you'd like to make a motion, I'll allow you to do that.

[John McCallum, Liberal, Markham—Unionville, ON]

Then we should have to make a motion.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Certainly. The motion then is what?

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

We move to allow witnesses to appear before the finance committee so that we can have further discussions on Bill C-25.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Very well.

Are there any questions or comments? Yes, Mr. Dykstra.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

Through you, Mr. Chair, I have a question to Massimo.

We've had over 50 folks and organizations who have presented. They have put everything together. We've had two hours this morning to ask questions. What is the rationale behind needing to have witnesses come forward? What have we missed or what issues have we not covered or are you not satisfied with?

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Are there any further questions or comments for Mr. Pacetti before I invite him to conclude discussion on his motion?

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Did I miss something?

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Mr. Wallace, go ahead, please.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

I was looking for the mover of the motion to tighten it up. If he wanted witnesses to come in on this item—which I think is fairly clear—could he indicate whether it's one hour, fifty witnesses, or one witness? Having it wide open to invite witnesses makes it difficult for me to support it.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Is this something new, or did I miss something? We had 50 witnesses before Bill C-25. I think this is normal. I don't understand.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

I'm just asking you to narrow it.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

I don't know. We submitted a list of 15.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Please indicate to the chair if you wish to speak to this motion.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

We submitted a list of 15 on Thursday afternoon.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Mr. McKay.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

I think Mr. Pacetti is right. I'm kind of puzzled that anybody would be resisting having a.... It seems to me the way you do things is that you have witnesses, then you have amendments, and then you go to clause-by-clause. I thought that was the way you did legislation. We had the first cut at Bill C-25 this morning. I thought a lot of members on both sides of the House raised legitimate questions. Even the Conservatives raised legitimate questions, which was novel in and of itself.

I think we should just proceed on this bill in the normal fashion, which is that you hear witnesses, and then we'll schedule clause-by-clause.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Go ahead, please, Mr. McCallum.