Finance Committee on June 9th, 2016

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Well, if we have two in British Columbia—

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Even if we had to do each region by video conference at the end of the day, we could still do two.

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Yes. I'd submit that two would be warranted for British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec, for the size and diversity that we find. I think that Vancouver and interior B.C. are two realities. I was thinking of Toronto, but instead of Toronto, maybe we could have southern Ontario and northern Ontario.

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Milton, ON]

Yes, Windsor and Thunder Bay.

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Yes. Quebec is naturally Montreal and Quebec City, but I'm open to alternatives to those.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Can you give—

[Steven MacKinnon, Liberal, Gatineau, QC]

I do think Toronto is important.

[Francesco Sorbara, Liberal, Vaughan—Woodbridge, ON]

I think we do need to be in Toronto for at least one of our sessions.

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Milton, ON]

Only if we go to an airport hotel.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Okay, Toronto.

Ottawa is eastern Ontario. What about the Windsor area, which is the auto industry, etc.?

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

That's southwestern Ontario, so Windsor or London.

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Milton, ON]

Yes, definitely.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Windsor or London?

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Milton, ON]

Windsor or London. Windsor we all hold. London we all hold. We all have representatives in London. We all have representatives in Windsor. Do we not have Windsor anymore?

[Phil McColeman, Conservative, Brantford—Brant, ON]

No.

[Lisa Raitt, Conservative, Milton, ON]

No, we don't have Windsor.

There's Karen Vecchio.

[An hon. member]

There's Chatham.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Windsor or London?

[An hon. member]

London.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Okay. We can do some of these by video conference instead of travelling to them all, or what have you.

Can you give us some suggestions on Quebec, too?

Sorry, Mr. McKinnon, did you want in?

[Ron McKinnon, Liberal, Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

I'm not sure if you're looking at the north: Iqaluit, Yellowknife, and Whitehorse.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

It's a problem. It's the cost of travel. There definitely should be something done somehow, by video conference or something, to bring in the north.

[Ron McKinnon, Liberal, Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Yellowknife might be a compromise. It's fairly easy to get to.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Okay.

Then on Quebec....

[Guy Caron, NDP, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

Initially, for Ontario, we said Toronto and London. Are we thinking of northern Ontario? There was the suggestion of Thunder Bay.