Finance Committee on Sept. 22nd, 2010

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Good afternoon, everyone.

I call this meeting to order, the 28th meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance. I want to welcome you all back to Parliament, and I want to especially welcome the new members of our committee. This is a committee, as you will see, that works very well together, and I'm sure you'll enjoy your time here very much.

I just want to point out to members that we did have a subcommittee meeting yesterday. We did go through the witnesses for the pre-budget consultations. Hopefully all of the party suggestions are included in the list that you have. As well, you should have the travel itinerary for the first trip, out west, and you should have a calendar for the fall schedule.

Basically, we're here today to assure that this list includes all the suggestions by the parties and to see if there are any questions regarding the travel itinerary.

We'll go first to Monsieur Paillé.

[Daniel Paillé, Bloc, Hochelaga, QC]

Mr. Chair, on behalf of the Bloc Québécois, I would like to welcome Ms. Mendes and Mr. Szabo to the Standing Committee on Finance and would like to say that we are very happy that Mr. Wallace stayed on the committee. I would have missed him otherwise.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

We all missed Mr. Wallace terribly this summer. In fact, he sent a video of himself to me, which I will share with the committee members if you so wish.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

We will first go to the chosen participants. I believe you have all received this and you should have reviewed this. Are there any additions that members need to make?

Mr. Mulcair.

[Thomas Mulcair, NDP, Outremont, QC]

Mr. Chair, I would like to inform you that the caucus of the British Columbia NDP will soon provide me with the name of the MP who will accompany you in British Columbia. We usually have local people. So I will let Jean-François know as soon as I have confirmation of this person's name.

It will probably be the same person for Saskatchewan in order to make things easier, but I am waiting for a confirmation.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Merci. And I understand....

[Daniel Paillé, Bloc, Hochelaga, QC]

We split our task into two: as MP for western Quebec, I will go out west and Mr. Carrier will go to the east.

[An hon. member]

Oh, that's a great idea!

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Okay. Merci.

So I take it the list as presented is acceptable? Thank you.

Are there any questions, perhaps from the new members, regarding the travel itinerary? If you do have any specific questions regarding logistics, you can talk to the clerk, Jean-François, or you can talk to Kate Bourke, our logistics officer.

[Daniel Paillé, Bloc, Hochelaga, QC]

I understand that we are waiting for a confirmation on the MPs who will be leaving from and returning to Montreal and not Ottawa. That's the staff again... All right.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Okay.

We also discussed at the committee--

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

Mr. Chair, for Saskatoon we're returning...jeudi? We said the later flights, right? Or should we be booking the two o'clock...?

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Our understanding is that it's just too difficult to do the tours and catch the two o'clock flight.

Do you want to comment?

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Jean-François Pagé]

Depending on the first day, if we don't have a lot of witnesses in Saskatoon, perhaps we can visit the site in the afternoon. As a result, we would only have to do one tour on Thursday morning and we could finish earlier.

That will depend on how many witnesses we have.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

There are just the other two items....

I want to get approval for this motion that the committee defray the hospitality expenses related to working meals to be held during its travel to Kamloops on September 28, 2010.

[Mike Wallace, Conservative, Burlington, ON]

I'll move it if you need it. What do you need it for?

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

The plan was to perhaps have a luncheon with the first nations band we're visiting.

It's moved by Mr. Wallace. D'accord?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you.

The other two items, which I'm just going to highlight for the committee, we can discuss today or we can delay. The main thing to do is pre-budget consultations.

We discussed Bill C-470. This has to be reported back to the House October 29. The subcommittee discussed the possibility of having an extension because there are a large number of witnesses who wish to present on this piece of legislation.

I believe Mr. Pacetti is going to talk to the mover of that motion.

Mr. Pacetti.

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

Well, I spoke to the people who are on this committee, and we're going to be in favour of extending it.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Do I have approval from the committee to ask for the extension?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you.

The other item to highlight is Bill S-3. This is dealing with an act to implement conventions and protocols concluded between Canada and Colombia, Greece, and Turkey for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income. We were just asking members, and I think it was agreed at the subcommittee, that we have about two meetings on this piece of legislation in the fall.

[An hon. member]

Maximum.