Evidence of meeting #1 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was first.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Clerk of the Committee  Mr. Georges Etoka

11:05 a.m.

The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Georges Etoka

Honourable members of the committee, I see a quorum.

I must inform members that the clerk of the committee can only receive motions for the election of the chair. The clerk cannot receive other types of motions, entertain points of order, or participate in debate.

We can now proceed to the election of the chair. Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the chair must be a member of the government party.

I'm ready to receive motions for the chair.

Mr. MacAulay.

11:05 a.m.

Liberal

Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE

I move that it be Rodney Weston.

11:05 a.m.

The Clerk

It has been moved by Mr. MacAulay that Mr. Weston be elected chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions?

Mr. Weston.

11:05 a.m.

Conservative

John Weston Conservative West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC

I'd just like to say I think it's a great name.

11:05 a.m.

The Clerk

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Rodney Weston elected chair of the committee.

11:05 a.m.

Some hon. members

Hear, hear!

11:05 a.m.

The Clerk

Before inviting Mr. Weston to take the chair, if the committee wishes we will now proceed to the election of vice-chairs.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the first vice-chair must be a member of the official opposition.

I'm now prepared to receive motions for the first vice-chair.

Mr. MacAulay.

11:05 a.m.

Liberal

Lawrence MacAulay Liberal Cardigan, PE

I'd like to nominate Mr. Fin Donnelly.

11:05 a.m.

Conservative

John Weston Conservative West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC

That's also a good name, Mr. Clerk.

11:05 a.m.

The Clerk

It has been moved by Mr. MacAulay that Mr. Donnelly be elected first vice-chair of the committee.

Are there any other motions?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Donnelly duly elected first vice-chair of the committee.

11:05 a.m.

Some hon. members

Hear, hear!

11:05 a.m.

The Clerk

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the second vice-chair must be a member of an opposition party other than the official opposition.

I'm now prepared to receive motions for the second vice-chair.

Mr. Donnelly.

11:05 a.m.

NDP

Fin Donnelly NDP New Westminster—Coquitlam, BC

I'd like to nominate Mr. Lawrence MacAulay.

11:05 a.m.

The Clerk

It has been moved by Mr. Donnelly that Mr. MacAulay be elected second vice-chair of the committee. Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

I declare Mr. MacAulay duly elected second vice-chair of the committee.

I now invite Mr. Weston to take the chair.

11:10 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston

The first thing I'd like to say is thank you very much for electing me once again as chair. I want to say congratulations to our two vice-chairs. It's great to come back to this committee. It's a terrific committee, and I very much enjoyed working on this committee in the last Parliament and look forward to the work that we'll be doing in this Parliament.

For the new members, I want to say welcome to this committee. I hope you'll find the work here as satisfying as I did in the last Parliament. This is not a warning of any sort, but this committee tends to be very collegial. One of the things I really enjoy about this committee is that we do tend to work very closely and have a very collegial working relationship with all members of the committee. I certainly want to welcome all the new members to the committee and welcome back the members who were on the committee in the previous Parliament.

We have a few items of business, but one of the things I was surprised to hear during the election of the chair was that Mr. Weston was so fond of the name Rodney, as he pointed out.

Thank you very much, Mr. Weston. That's a little “inside baseball” there.

Before we begin, we have a few things we need to clear up today. We need to go through our routine motions. We need to set our routine motions on how we conduct our business. I think the clerk has circulated them to you. This is the process. These are the motions that were followed in the previous Parliament. You might want to take a look at the motions. I'm assuming that you might have given some thought to them beforehand.

I'm not sure how you want to deal with the motions we have in place. There are the motions we have from the previous Parliament. Do you want to deal with this as a whole? The only one I have to say would probably change is the allocation of time for questioning, because we no longer have a Bloc Québécois party here, and this lays out a standard for that as well.

Are there any questions? How do you want to deal with this? Do you want to deal with this on a one-off basis? Would you like to deal with this as a whole? I'm open for discussion at this point.

Mr. Kamp.

11:10 a.m.

Conservative

Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC

I would recommend, Mr. Chair, that we proceed through them one at a time. I think there are some minor changes in more than just the speaking order. I think we can move through them pretty quickly.

11:10 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston

If it's all right with everyone we'll go through them one at a time.

The first motion we have is on the services of analysts from the Library of Parliament: that the committee retain, as needed and at the discretion of the chair, the services of analysts from the Library of Parliament to assist it in its work.

Mr. Vellacott.

11:10 a.m.

Conservative

Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK

I so move.

(Motion agreed to)

11:10 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston

I'll invite the analysts to take their seats at the table.

Kirsten, welcome back.

The next motion we have is on the subcommittee on agenda and procedure. The motion reads that the subcommittee on agenda and procedure be established and be composed of the chair, the two vice-chairs, a member of the other opposition party, and a member of the government party.

On that motion, Mr. Kamp.

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC

That's the previous motion, so I assume it's not being moved; it's not on the floor at this point. I would like to move that the subcommittee on agenda and procedure be composed of five members, including the chair, the two vice-chairs, the parliamentary secretary, and a member of the Conservative Party.

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston

Can you please read that again, Mr. Kamp?

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

Randy Kamp Conservative Pitt Meadows—Maple Ridge—Mission, BC

I move that the subcommittee on agenda and procedure be composed of five members, including the chair, the two vice-chairs, the parliamentary secretary, and a member of the Conservative Party.

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston

You heard the motion as proposed by Mr. Kamp. Is there any discussion on the motion?

Those in favour?

(Motion agreed to)

On a reduced quorum, the motion from the previous Parliament 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 one government member and one opposition member.

Is there any discussion on that motion?

Mr. Vellacott.

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

Maurice Vellacott Conservative Saskatoon—Wanuskewin, SK

Mr. Chair, does the three include the chair? Is the chair part of that number?

11:15 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston

Yes.

It's been moved by Mr. Vellacott that the motion stand from the previous Parliament as read.

Those in favour?

(Motion agreed to)

The next motion is on the distribution of documents.

From the previous Parliament, the motion is 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.

Mr. Hayes so moves.

Those in favour?

(Motion agreed to)

Sorry, I forgot to ask for a discussion. Everybody was in favour, so I take it back.

Working meals. A motion from the previous Parliament reads that the clerk of the committee be authorized to make the necessary arrangements to provide working meals for the committee and its subcommittees.

Do I have a mover?