Fisheries Committee on June 16th, 2015

[François Lapointe, NDP, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

I'd just like to point out that it's not a practice we agree with.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

That's fine.

It's been moved by Mr. Kamp that the committee move in camera.

[François Lapointe, NDP, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Can we record the vote on going in camera, please?

(Motion agreed to: yeas 5; nays 4)

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

We'll suspend for a moment until we go in camera.

[Proceedings continue in camera]

[Public proceedings resume]

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Before we adjourn, Mr. Weston, you wanted the floor.

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

Thank you, Chair.

Author Stephen Covey said that it's important to mark passages in life, family and business.

He said that the values of organizations are important and I think we need to mark a passage today.

There's a person on our committee who has served a long time, probably longer than any person in Parliament on any committee. He has certainly served the longest as a parliamentary secretary that I know of. In a system that is constrained by the adversarial nature in which we find ourselves, he has always tried to find common ground. He's made it a pleasure for me, and I think my colleagues on all sides, to come to this place. He has been the author or the progenitor or the colleague of many reports that have come from the committee, and he has done something in a world where we truly strive to preserve a resource not just for ourselves but for our children and our grandchildren, and that is the fisheries.

I just want to pay tribute to our friend and our colleague Randy Kamp. We're going to miss you here and we're very grateful for the work you've done over 11 long years. Thank you, Randy.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Thank you, Mr. Weston.

Mr. Chisholm.

[Robert Chisholm, NDP, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

It's too bad that we didn't go out of in camera to say this.

I've enjoyed working with you, Randy, over the past three years. You've been a good parliamentary secretary to work with, given the constraints under which you work. Of course your demeanour has always been such that you were able to put me in my place in the nicest possible way without raising your voice, something I've never learned how to do. Anyway, I know this is an issue you've always been pretty dedicated to and I wish you the best.

Thanks.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Thank you, Mr. Chisholm.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Mr. MacAulay.

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

Thank you very much.

Randy, yes, you've been a true gentleman and if you can keep Chisholm in his place you deserve a lot of credit. He never has very much to say, Mr. Chisholm, but whatever.

Randy, you handled the issues around this committee in a very decent manner. It was interesting. I didn't always agree with the outcome, probably not very often, but the fact was that you did it with true decency. Without question, as an old clergyman said to me one time, “If I could put on my tombstone, he was a good man”. I can say one thing about you, Mr. Kamp, you are a good man and you served well and I thank you very much.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Before we rise here today I want to echo a lot of the sentiments, Randy. As chair of this committee it's been a real pleasure to work with you over the last almost seven years. Certainly I think we've done a lot of good things here together as a committee, and to all committee members today, it's been a great experience working with all of you.

One of the things that I take a lot of pride in as part of this committee for the last seven years is that we've always had unanimous reports. That's something that other committees cannot say. We may not have produced a lot of reports at times but we have always had unanimous reports and we've gone that extra mile. I certainly appreciate the efforts that all of you have made over the last seven years. I especially appreciate your contribution to that, Randy.

Thank you very much.

[Robert Chisholm, NDP, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Is this our last meeting?

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

No, but just in case it is.

[Robert Chisholm, NDP, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

If it happens to be, I wanted to thank the clerk and the analyst and the staff who have supported this committee, as I'm sure others would. We really appreciated all the work and support and we've always felt well served.

Thanks very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

Mr. Weston.

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

In that regard, as Bob said it's a shame these comments are in camera. Are we able to get unanimous consent to take the comments public starting with the tribute to Mr. Kamp?

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

If the committee agrees—

[Lawrence MacAulay, Liberal, Cardigan, PE]

I think it could be dangerous to take it public because I said things about Randy that were wonderful.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rodney Weston]

We would need unanimous consent.

Georges advises me that if the committee agrees, the comments can be taken out of camera and printed if that is the committee's wish.

[Robert Chisholm, NDP, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

I want to change what I said.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!