Evidence of meeting #149 for Finance in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was witnesses.
A video is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
It's a hundred per cent helpful to the clerk and everybody who will be trying to corral those witnesses and make sure they're ready for Tuesday.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
What Mr. Chambers just said is that we should reach out to our own witnesses...? I think that's normally not—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
No, you would submit those, but you would reach out to them in advance on your own, and then, for Alexandre, make sure that he has the right contact information, that they are set up, etc., so that things can be more seamless.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
The only other option is to start this on the Thursday and do something else on the Tuesday, which would give the clerk a reasonable time frame to actually be able to invite witnesses. That's the only other thing I can think of. I know that probably isn't a popular suggestion—
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
That is another suggestion: the Thursday instead of the Tuesday.
MP Chambers.
Conservative
Adam Chambers Conservative Simcoe North, ON
We would very much agree to that, but if the House rises, the expectation will be that we'll still have the meeting on Thursday. That would be the expectation on our side, because the motion does say before June 25, right? We can leave that up to the committee to consider. I mean, we'll do what we can to make sure our witnesses are available for Tuesday.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Where are we landing here, members? I'm just trying to help. Is it Tuesday?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Okay.
I'm hearing—and I'm looking also to MP Davies online—that it's Tuesday for the motion study—what we said—and that witnesses would be submitted before Friday, but we would also, in turn, get in touch with those possible witnesses so that they are ready to go on Tuesday and we can help Alexandre to do his job.
MP Davies, your hand went up.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Yes. What I would suggest is that each party put in maybe their top three witnesses, rank them and give them to the clerk by the end of Friday. That increases the chances of the clerk finding a preferred witness to come on Tuesday. I agree that we should do this on Tuesday, because for next Thursday we don't know what's going to happen.
Let's do Tuesday. By giving the clerk more options, I think we'll be able to make sure we have the witnesses each party wants.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Thank you, MP Davies.
I agree, so each party would name at least a list of two or three, just in case the top witness that you prioritize is not available.
PS Turnbull.
Liberal
Ryan Turnbull Liberal Whitby, ON
I definitely agree with it. If Friday is supposed to be our witness deadline, yet we're only really focused on getting witnesses before Tuesday, can we all agree that we can continue to submit some other witnesses after that deadline? That's the way we've done it in other committees that I've been on, where you sort of submit a preliminary list, and then you can still add to your list of witnesses. I think that's reasonable, given the timelines here.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
Members are always able to continue to submit witnesses. We do try to set a deadline so that Alexandre and his team can do the best job they can to contact those witnesses and deliver headsets—you can imagine the logistics of all of this—so that everything works.
You can continue to submit, but the sooner, the better. Maybe get hold of the ones you're able to, so that when the clerk calls, they're ready to go. Is that good?
Okay, members, shall we adjourn? Oh, wait.
I'm sorry, MP Davies. Your hand went up.
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
I'd like to introduce a brand new subject.... No, I'm teasing.
What I meant by the two witnesses was the witnesses for Tuesday. I think we should establish another deadline for the rest of the witnesses, since we're not calling them until the fall.
Why don't we just say to submit and rank the witnesses you want for Tuesday by the end of tomorrow? Then, Chair, at your discretion, why don't you set a further deadline for three weeks from now or a month from now for the rest of the witnesses?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Fonseca
That sounds great. Everybody's in agreement.
Thank you, MP Davies. That's a great suggestion.
Okay, members, shall we adjourn?