Evidence of meeting #43 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was questions.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:45 p.m.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Wow, we have a lawyer in the room, but we don't have the answer. Imagine now, if we're not in trouble.... Why don't we bring the legal people in?
12:45 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
12:45 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston
On the motion put forward by Mr. Godin, those in favour?
(Motion negatived)
The motion has been defeated. On clause 16 and amendment G-4, are you ready for the question?
(Amendment agreed to)
(Clause 16 as amended agreed to)
(Clauses 17 to 19 inclusive agreed to)
Monsieur Godin.
12:50 p.m.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Mr. Chair, I would like to make sure that our opposition to clause 16 has been recorded.
Thank you.
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston
Thank you, Monsieur Godin.
Now we're back to clause 1.
(Clause 1 agreed to)
Shall the full title, an act to amend the Coastal Fisheries Protection Act, pass?
12:50 p.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
12:50 p.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
12:50 p.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston
Thank you very much. That concludes our clause by clause.
We just have one housekeeping measure to do. It shouldn't take but a moment here. I believe Georges has a budget he wants to circulate and it's pertaining to our recreational fisheries study. It's to help pay the costs of our witnesses, obviously by video conferences and whatnot. So Georges has a proposed budget that he will be circulating here.
All right. I believe you all have a copy of the proposed budget in front of you. The budget is for $36,300. Now remember this is for witnesses who could potentially come here, and Georges has allowed for the possibility of 38 video conferences and 10 people to travel here. It doesn't necessarily mean we're going to have that number, but it's up to that amount. If it goes beyond that amount, we'd have to return to this committee to seek approval to go beyond that as well. So that's what he's proposing, a budget to be able to pay the bills as we go forward with our recreational fisheries study.
Monsieur Lapointe, did you have a question?
12:50 p.m.
NDP
François Lapointe NDP Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
This is the second time that I am somewhat surprised by one of the amounts. This is the unit cost for videoconferences, i.e. $600. In the regions, I have sometimes had to use this type of service and the cost was $150 for two hours. This $600 per videoconference seems high to me, especially since we have had a few problems in that regard. In Sept-Îles, if memory serves, we lost contact about seven times in two hours.
How is this $600 price per videoconference justified? I'm thinking about taxpayers. My friends in the government party will be sensitive to that aspect of the question.
What happens in a case such as the one we saw in Sept-Îles? I do not know who the supplier was, but the service was only passable at best. We only had the audio during part of the meeting, the video image kept freezing, and so on. How does the committee manage these files? Must we really pay $600 for a simple videoconference contract which on top of everything does not provide good service in some cases? I'd like to know how this all works.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston
The $600 unit price, monsieur Lapointe, is a maximum that would possibly be allowed for a video conference. As you can appreciate, the cost to provide a video conference in your area or my area may be very different from providing it in downtown Vancouver, Mr. Weston's riding. The costs do vary, so we provide that maximum. As I said, the total amount will not always be used, and we leave it to the clerk to work with the House of Commons staff to identify the people in the area, in the location, to provide these video conferences. We give them a budget to work with. If they go beyond that, they have to come back to us with the same thing.
So as far as technical issues, that's unfortunate that would occur in the case you outlined. However, I'm sure that if you're a reputable videographer—I'm not sure what the proper term is—you don't want that to occur. You're going to make sure it doesn't happen again if that happens at one point, otherwise the House of Commons is probably not going to employ your services going forward. So those are the issues we have to deal with, or the way we have to deal with them. But the $600 per unit is just a maximum per video conference, because as I say in the cases you outlined it may be $150 per cost, but in some other area it may be more. Hopefully that answers your question, monsieur Lapointe.
12:55 p.m.
NDP
François Lapointe NDP Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
Mr. Chair, I want to thank you for the clarifications and reiterate all my trust in the clerks. This was a question concerning the funds, but as regards the management, in particular, I trust the team of clerks completely.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
John Weston Conservative West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC
I agree with Mr. Lapointe. I think that this whole experience will allow us to choose videographers that are the least costly for the taxpayers.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston
I have every confidence that the House of Commons will secure the most cost-efficient service available to be able to provide us with—
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston
No question, and that's a big part of it, to be reliable and efficient.
Are there any further questions on the budget?
I think you have before you a proposed motion that's been circulated. If someone wants to make that motion, I'd much appreciate that.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston
It's been moved by Mr. Weston that the proposed operational budget in the amount of $36,300 in relation to its study on recreational fishing in Canada be adopted.
(Motion agreed to)
Thank you.
There being no further business, this committee now stands adjourned.