Finance Committee on May 31st, 2006

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

Thank you.

Mr. Shapcott.

[Michael Shapcott]

In our view, there need to be some amendments in particular to extend and enhance the federal homeless program and the federal housing rehabilitation program. Those are the two biggest priorities that need to be addressed that aren't in Bill C-13.

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

Thank you. I appreciate that.

Ms. Kirk.

[Teri Kirk]

Yes. We support clause 51 as currently drafted.

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

Okay, thank you. And thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Thank you, Mr. Pacetti. Thank you, committee members. Thank you very much to our witnesses for your presentations and responses to the questions. We appreciate them.

We'll invite the second panel to play musical chairs with the first panel, if they would.

Mr. Turner has a point of order.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

We've just heard from seven witnesses representing six organizations. We have 11 members, and you took it upon yourself to ask questions as well, making it 12. I think the format is wholly unsatisfactory to many members who would like to ask questions and are not able to. I wonder if there is agreement around the table, when we have multiple witnesses and so many different topics—we had six completely different topics here, on different sections of the budget, and I certainly had questions for these witnesses, as did my colleagues—can we not change the format from seven minutes?

Would there not be agreement around the table for us to go to a different line of questioning, when we have so many topics and so many witnesses and there are so many members and we all have something we want to ask? Would there be agreement around the table for us to have a standard three minutes of questions from members? That would allow more participation.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Are there any other committee members who wish to offer their comments?

Mr. Pacetti, you're first.

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

Mr. Turner, that's why I suggested last week when we met that perhaps, when we have more than five or six witnesses, we at least, at a minimum, request that meetings last an hour and a half. And perhaps the first round should be five minutes instead of seven minutes. That's the best suggestion I could make.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Mr. Del Mastro, sir.

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Peterborough, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'd like to support what Mr. Turner is saying. I'm disappointed I didn't get an opportunity to ask some questions. I thought I had some value to add to the debate and to the committee and I didn't have that opportunity. So I would support a motion that would allow everybody to have an opportunity, if they wish.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

We're going to entertain motions. Please frame the motion as quickly as possible, out of respect for our witnesses, and then we'll be able to discuss the motion.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

Then let's just do it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Do what?

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

When we have multiple witnesses, let's restrict the questioning to three minutes per member.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Mr. St-Cyr.

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

As Mr. Pacetti said, we could do a first round of five minutes. Each of the members of the committee and of the parties would then be responsible for disciplining themselves by restricting themselves to speeches on the most important subjects. I believe it is preferable to have enough time to obtain the answers we really want rather than to ask a host of questions that witnesses can't answer, for lack of time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Thank you.

Mr. Savage.

[Michael Savage, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

It's unfortunate that a couple of members didn't get to ask questions. I'm not suggesting that we change all the rules of the committee that we voted on before, but for the purpose of the rest of this meeting, I'd be prepared to sacrifice some time in order to allow them to have questions or allow them to go first, or something like that.

It's not for us here; we should discuss this at a different time if we're going to change the permanent rules.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Right.

Well, as you know, I'm the servant of the committee, so I have to follow the standing orders we agreed upon earlier. However, if I could suggest this change in format, and I hope the committee members would abide with this: if we had reduced the lead round by two minutes each, that would have left enough time, in retrospect, for a couple more questions.

I couldn't guarantee, given our formula, that both of you gentlemen would have been able to get questions under that change, but it would give time for at least two more questioners.

Would that meet with the approval of the committee members?

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

In this last round, of the four Liberal members, three asked questions. Of the two Bloc members, both asked questions--okay, Mr. St-Cyr had two questions--and the NDP as well, and we had two questioners.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Yes, three of you, including myself.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

You're up there; you're not here. We had two out of four.

So I think there has to be a better way to do this, completely. When we have seven witnesses and six different organizations, the format we have is somewhat ridiculous.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Okay, but perhaps, Mr. Turner, you can respond to that suggestion of reducing the first round by two minutes or come up with a better idea.

[Garth Turner, Conservative, Halton, ON]

I already had a better idea. When we have multiple witnesses, we should have no more than three minutes per member to ask questions.