Ms. Jordan.
Evidence of meeting #5 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was witnesses.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #5 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was witnesses.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
That was actually my question. Would witnesses be willing to come the Thursday before the long weekend? I'm actually with Mr. Strahl on this one. If there's nothing scheduled, having a meeting for the sake of having a meeting is irrelevant, but if you think that the witnesses would be willing to travel or come on the Thursday right before the long weekend, that's a different thing.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
I throw it out there because it might be problematic for some, perhaps, being the Thursday before the long weekend. Anybody else on this matter?
I still don't see a consensus here, whether to do something on the 24th or not. Can we return to that date and I'll just proceed into April?
Let's go to April 12. This was the original day for the Comox witnesses. We have four to eight witnesses available. We've got March 10, that we just talked about, but we also have April 12, with four to eight witnesses.
Going to April 14, there we have a discussion about the report, once we have all the witnesses giving their testimony. We've questioned them and now we get into the discussion, and then we'll also talk about committee business once again if need be.
We now go to April 19. We have the minister on the main estimates. He is available for that date. It's a two-hour meeting. We could do the estimates and the mandate letter at that same time.
Mr. Donnelly.
5:05 p.m.
NDP
Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
It's all right now. I think I just figured it out.
I was just going back to the witnesses. It's 30 minutes for presentations and 30 minutes for Qs and As for each of the hours. Is that correct?
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
It's 10 minutes per witness. Then we have the questions and answers as per our format.
5:05 p.m.
NDP
Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Per our format, and that's twice. I'm just looking at our Thursday meeting, which is probably the model for what we're looking at for the 14th.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
Yes. We're looking at two rounds. You have 10-minute presentations by each panel member and then questions and answers. In the next hour, we proceed with the same formula.
Let me go back to the 19th, with the minister, estimates, and mandate letter.
Mr. Strahl.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Mark Strahl Conservative Chilliwack—Hope, BC
Yes, this is clearly what we did not want to happen. What is being offered to us is one day. We asked for two separate meetings, one to talk about the mandate letter and one to talk about the estimates, and now we're being offered one day with the minister. He might appear as a witness in two consecutive panels, and that would be a cute way to get around him being here twice.
Clearly, we requested at the very first meeting when we formed this committee that he come and speak to us on his mandate letter, and now we're getting what we talked about and voted on. We said at the last meeting that we would not agree to one combined meeting, and that's what we are being offered.
I would say that we're happy to have him on the main estimates on the 19th, but we still expect him to come and talk about his mandate letter—we had hoped to have that happen certainly by now—before the middle of April. We requested this quite some time ago. It's regrettable that he hasn't made himself available for the committee, but due to the request we've made, I think we have to stick with that and have him here on two separate occasions for two separate issues.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
Okay. There are two dates that he has offered: the 12th or the 19th. That was the offer. You're saying, obviously, that you want two different meetings.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
Now, I don't know if that's for the 12th and the 19th, which pushes back the Comox study, or if you want him in two separate meetings.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Mark Strahl Conservative Chilliwack—Hope, BC
On Comox, in our previous meeting we talked about this in camera, so I want to be careful that I don't violate anything that was said there, but there's some urgency to having the Comox study occur as we've laid it out. I don't think we want to bump Comox and not meet that requirement.
But again, we expect him to be here for the motion that was passed by this committee to talk about his mandate letter, and we also expect him to be here to defend his estimates, in separate meetings.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
This is what we are pushing up against, Mr. Strahl, when it comes to this, because we know what was mentioned. I appreciate the fact that we did talk about two separate meetings at that time. We also have, under pressure of time, the date that was mentioned about the Comox decision, so we want to get that done ASAP.
Let's just say that the minister is coming in on the 19th—
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
Yes, on the main estimates, because they have to be reported.
Would you like to have the minister at a later date—we're now talking May or June—for his mandate letter? That motion was passed.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Mark Strahl Conservative Chilliwack—Hope, BC
Right, and I'm smart enough to be able to count to six and understand how this will go. But I believe that this is a kind of violation of the spirit to which we agreed early on, which was that he would come early on for the mandate letter. This is now being rolled into the main estimates. It's just unfortunate. I'll leave it at that.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Can we do the main estimates on the 21st? I know that we want the minister there for both. He has to be there for the main estimates as well as the...?
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
Well, no, he doesn't have to be, but what I'm saying is that he's available on the 12th or the 19th. That was the response.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Bernadette Jordan Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
I understand that. Does the minister have to be here for the main estimates? That's my question, I guess.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
That's normally the case, yes.
Is there anything else?
I don't know how you propose to do this, unless, Mr. Strahl, you want to propose a later date for him to talk about his mandate letter.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Mark Strahl Conservative Chilliwack—Hope, BC
I think we want him to come and defend his estimates on the 19th but I don't think that will fulfill the request of this committee to have him appear on his mandate letter. Obviously there are going to be discussions about the department at that meeting, but I think we want to encourage the minister to be here as much as possible.
If we are told this is the day, take it or leave it, then we want to take it for the main estimates, but I think that request for him to appear on his mandate letter remains in place until he comes to a meeting for that purpose. So that can be for future business, absolutely.
5:10 p.m.
NDP
Fin Donnelly NDP Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC
Mr. Chair, when is the minister available? You obviously have found out about the dates. Were there two dates he was available to come?
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Scott Simms
Yes, the 12th or the 19th. That was communicated to the clerk by his office.