Evidence of meeting #1 for Finance in the 43rd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was witnesses.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
McLeod says that's nothing.
No, we understand. I think we're easy. What's the most accommodating? If you want to go from 3:30 till eight o'clock, that's fine too. We're here to do a job, and we'll have to get it done next week.
Are people okay with, say, 3:30 till eight o'clock on Monday? Okay?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Then we'll leave it up to the clerk to find two slots of time on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, two slots of three hours each. It's nice to go three hours, have a break and go to QP.
On Monday we're proposing 3:30 in the afternoon until eight o'clock at night, and then Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday two slots of three hours. One would be 3:30 till 6:30.
We could start in the morning. What time do committees normally start in the morning?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Okay: 11 until QP is fine.
Is that okay?
Some people who are on QP who want to praise the government will want to leave for a while, no doubt, because they'll have questions—right, Pierre?
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Okay.
So it will be 11 till two o'clock and 3:30 till 6:30 Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Okay?
Mr. Julian.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Did you say Tuesday, “Wednesday” and Thursday? Wednesday, of course, are caucus meetings in the morning.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Oh, yes, that's right, Wednesday is caucus. So on Thursday we'll have to go a little later.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Wednesday night we could go until eight o'clock again. That would be another possibility. It would be another 3:30 to eight. All of us love being at caucus meetings.
Liberal
Sean Fraser Liberal Central Nova, NS
Will that reduce each caucus's witness total that we're supposed to propose?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
We can slate most of them in. We try to stick to six per hour and a half, but if necessary we've squeezed seven in before. If we have to do it, we can. We'll try to get between 90 and 100 witnesses, if we can, during that time period.
Okay? There's consent. We've agreed to do that.
Is there anything else we need to consider before we adjourn? Are there any other thoughts?
Mr. Julian.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Mr. Chair, the witness list is submitted by what time, noon on Friday?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
On the witness list, if parties could submit at least their first 10 by Thursday evening at six and the remainder of their witnesses by six o'clock on Friday, that would be fine. If we had 40 proposed witnesses by six o'clock on Thursday evening, it would be much easier for you, right?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Wayne Easter
Could we do it that way, and then have the remainder in to the clerk by six on Friday?
Where we are is to have suggested witnesses, 10 from each party, by six o'clock on Thursday, with the remainder by six o'clock on Friday. Liberals should be proposing in the range of 60 to 65, Conservatives roughly 50, the Bloc roughly 20 and the NDP 18, just to give some ease to the clerk.
We will meet on Monday from 3:30 until eight, and on Tuesday from 11 to two and 3:30 to 6:30, on Wednesday from 3:30 to eight, and on Thursday from 11 to two and 3:30 to 6:30.
The clerk will have to forward the submissions to members as soon as possible. They will go onto this committee's web page.
Mr. Julian, go ahead, and then we'll adjourn.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP New Westminster—Burnaby, BC
Has the Library of Parliament analyzed the briefs submitted so far? I would personally prefer to read a summary rather than all those briefs to determine which ones are the most useful.
Has an analysis been done?
Committee Researcher
No, we have not summarized all the briefs that have been sent for the simple reason that we did not know whether they would be reused or even whether prebudget consultations would take place this winter. As I was saying earlier, when we prepare the report, they will be part of an appendix and will be included in the report.
Conservative
