Fisheries Committee on March 10th, 2016

[Fin Donnelly, NDP, Port Moody—Coquitlam, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I find this unfortunate as well. I understand the idea of trying to consolidate the minister's visit and the minister's time. However, I have a huge list on fisheries, I have a pretty substantive list of questions on oceans, and while we've talked to Coast Guard officials, we haven't talked to the minister about the Coast Guard. I think those three areas warrant two separate visits from the minister.

I find it's unfortunate. It's been traditional that we've looked at that, given the opportunity, because we have the officials along with the minister. Then we have opportunity to hear from the minister and then drill down from the officials.

The mandate letter covers a fair amount as well. There are quite a few items in the mandate letter and there are a huge number of items in the budget. There's a range of issues from the last Parliament to this Parliament that I think warrant at least two visits from the minister. I too find it's unfortunate that we're going in this direction.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Go ahead, Ms. Jordan.

[Bernadette Jordan, Liberal, South Shore—St. Margarets, NS]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

There are a couple of things. First of all, there was never any discussion in the original motion about the amount of time that the minister would be able to give us. Therefore, we are now going to have him for two full hours, which we would not necessarily get.

Second, my understanding from doing a bit of research and homework is that in the past, the previous government's fisheries and oceans minister came for one hour, and that was it throughout the whole year. I think that bringing the minister here for two hours—an hour on the main estimates and the other hour on whatever else you have—is a fair compromise.

There's nothing to say that in the future we couldn't request that he come back another time. For now, I think we have to look at his time and when he's available, as well as the fact that the original motion never, ever said that we wanted him for a full meeting. It said we wanted him to come, and we're still getting that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Hearing no one who wishes to speak on this—

Sorry, Mr. Strahl. My apologies.

[Mark Strahl, Conservative, Chilliwack—Hope, BC]

I think, quite frankly, that this is actually a reduction. As Mr. Donnelly said, if we're going to talk about the estimates, which are substantial, they alone require two hours. It's true that the minister typically only appears for the first hour, but then there's a full second hour with officials to drill down into that. If there's only a one-hour meeting, that generally means that not every member gets a chance to question the minister.

I think this is actually a reduction in accountability and in our opportunity for questions on the estimates. We had hoped there would have been a subsequent two-hour meeting with the minister and officials to discuss his mandate letter.

It's a reduction from four hours to two. We're well over the time that we allotted to this meeting as well. We won't see it as being great that we've had our opportunities reduced from four hours to two on this.

Mr. Hardie says that the minister may be able to come back later, but given how long it's taken to get him here once, and now with an attempt to get him here for two meetings into one, I think it's unlikely.

We'll try, though. We still want him here for two separate meetings, and I think that's what the committee actually talked about at the beginning and again in the last meeting. It was very clear in our committee business that we would have two hours to discuss the main estimates, and now there is an offer to take it away.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Is there any more discussion?

[Robert Sopuck, Conservative, Dauphin—Swan River—Neepawa, MB]

I have a point of order. We're over the official time. Can we still continue business past the—

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

That's correct. Do I have unanimous consent to continue this meeting for another five minutes?

[Some hon. members]

No.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

The meeting is adjourned.