Evidence of meeting #1 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 40th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Mike Allen Conservative Tobique—Mactaquac, NB
Thank you, Mr. Calkins. I appreciate the comments from my colleagues. I absolutely agree and I accept the friendly amendment.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston
Apparently there's no such thing as a friendly amendment. What we need to do at this point in time is to understand the original amendment, which I'll read in its entirety: “That the Chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive evidence and to have that evidence printed when a quorum is not present, provided that at least four (4) members are present, including at least one government member and one opposition member.”
It is my understanding that we need to defeat this motion and move a new amendment to leave the membership at three.
Mr. Calkins.
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Wetaskiwin, AB
We could do it that way or I could move a subamendment to amend it from four to three and we could vote on that.
That's what I move. I move that we amend the amendment from four to three.
Conservative
February 3rd, 2009 / 11:40 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston
The amendment as moved by Mr. Calkins would change the number from four to three. It's seconded by Mr. Weston.
(Amendment agreed to)
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston
Now we need to vote on the motion and we need to vote on the amendment. We voted on the subamendment and now we need to vote on the amendment.
I'm getting confused here. Okay, no one actually moved the original motion, so we just need to vote once more.
We'll make sure of what we're voting on, which is that the chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive evidence and to have that evidence printed when a quorum is not present, provided that at least three members are present, including at least one government member and one opposition member.
(Motion as amended agreed to)
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston
The next item is the distribution of documents. The routine motion from the 39th Parliament on the distribution of documents says that the clerk of the committee be authorized to distribute to the members of the committee only documents that are available in both official languages.
Monsieur Lévesque.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston
So moved. The seconder is Mr. Bagnell.
Is there any discussion?
(Motion agreed to)
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston
Next is working meals: that the clerk of the committee be authorized to make the necessary arrangements to provide working meals for the committee and its subcommittees.
Monsieur Lévesque.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston
It's seconded by Mr. Blais. I'm going to ignore that comment.
Is there any discussion?
Monsieur Blais.
Bloc
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Wetaskiwin, AB
In the future when this committee elects a chair, we should have the discussion about this and the proposed chair's position on working meals before we vote on the chair.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston
Is there any reasonable discussion? Let's put it to the question.
(Motion agreed to)
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston
The next item is witnesses' expenses. The 39th Parliament's motion read this way: “That, if requested, reasonable travel, accommodation and living expenses be reimbursed to witnesses, not exceeding two representatives (2) per organization; and that, in exceptional circumstances, payment for more representatives be made at the discretion of the Chair.”
That's moved by Mr. Lévesque and seconded by Mr. Stoffer.
Is there any discussion on the motion?
Monsieur Blais.
Bloc
Raynald Blais Bloc Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC
An individual requesting reimbursement has a certain amount of time in which to do so. Is that three or six months after the event? Is this time limit left to the discretion of the chair? I would agree that we should leave it to the discretion of the chair to decide whether or not to increase the number of representatives. I would also agree that he do so for exceptional cases.
We recently experienced a similar situation. For one reason or another, the witness may forget or fail to submit the reimbursement request by the deadline. So I would like to give the chair some discretion, for exceptional situations, to allow expenditure reimbursements. I also understand that this clause does not mean that witnesses who appeared two years ago can be reimbursed today. That is not what I'm looking for. Rather, I would like us to be able to have some flexibility in that respect.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston
The short answer is that it's not within the power of the committee to authorize the chair for exceptional circumstances to extend beyond the 60 days. For anyone to submit expenses, it's 60 days.
Are there any further questions?
Mr. MacAulay.
Liberal
Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE
It's also within the authority of the committee to decide if there were some extenuating circumstances that would allow the chair or the committee to deal with it after 60 days.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston
The policy is set by the Liaison Committee, which is a committee comprised of all the chairs of the committees, and they can decide to grant exceptional circumstances. But in this committee, it's not within our authority.
