Evidence of meeting #27 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was amendment.
A video is available from Parliament.
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
Yes, thanks.
I do hope there would be a short report back to the House. It's two meetings so it shouldn't be very long. Obviously we would want the department to appear to testify. It shouldn't be that difficult. I imagine it should be pretty straightforward.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Mr. Chair, possibly Mr. Johns could indicate which department officials. I'm not familiar with this issue, so if we were submitting witnesses, I take it there would be people in the department who would be specialized in this. I'd be curious to hear from Mr. Johns on which department officials he thinks would be beneficial to the committee.
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
I think certainly Rebecca Reid would be able to identify who in her department she'd like to put forward. I imagine anyone who is in charge of reinterpreting these rules should be testifying in front of us so that we can ask them what they're doing and why they're doing it, and pose questions about what the ramifications are and their process and whatnot. I'm sure we can all come up with some questions about whether they've explored the impact this is going to have on the industry.
Liberal
Jaime Battiste Liberal Sydney—Victoria, NS
I'm wondering if Gord would be open to this. Instead of a study, since there are two meetings on prawns, would a letter suffice in terms of getting something back to the House?
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
I would be open to that. I'd love to hear what my other colleagues would like to say about that.
Mr. Arnold might have a comment.
Conservative
Richard Bragdon Conservative Tobique—Mactaquac, NB
With regard to witnesses, we probably should hear from the CFIA as well. I think they would have pertinent testimony relating to this.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Thank you, Mr. Bragdon. I don't know if the clerk has made note of it. If not, I would suggest that you submit that to the clerk at your earliest possible convenience so that she has it.
Mr. Arnold.
Conservative
Mel Arnold Conservative North Okanagan—Shuswap, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Yes, as far as the department is concerned, I believe we need to hear from the decision-makers as well as the enforcement personnel. It's the enforcement personnel who need to enact what is taking place.
I'm just offering that out there. Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Thank you, Mr. Arnold.
Seeing nothing else, somebody mentioned just now what's coming up. Am I to take it that our next two meetings will be dedicated to the prawn study, or will we start with the prawn study, go back and finish Pacific salmon, and then come back to finish up with the prawn study?
Nancy or Tina, do we still have witnesses on our list that we haven't contacted for the actual salmon study?
Nancy Vohl Committee Clerk
Maybe I will answer this one, Mr. Chair, since I was the one in charge of the list at the time.
There are some witnesses on salmon that we can go down the list for, either the list submitted last fall, although not a lot, or the list if we go back in time and—
Bloc
Marilène Gill Bloc Manicouagan, QC
Mr. Chair, I have a point of order. The interpreter is saying that a technical difficulty is preventing them from interpreting. The sound is bad.
Committee Clerk
Sorry, I will move closer.
As I was saying, I will answer the question because I was responsible for the list of witnesses at the time.
A few witnesses are still on the fall list, as are a few from the lists sent out in the first session of the 43rd Parliament. We are in a new session, but the study is the same.
However, when it comes to the salmon study, unless I am mistaken, I believe Mr. Hardie wanted to invite new witnesses.
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
Perhaps we can clarify a couple of things.
First, going back to the prawn study, a letter would be fine as long as we can include recommendations to the House and to the minister.
On the salmon, Nancy, because we're extending those three meetings purely for the budget, we might want to bring some witnesses back. Is there a deadline on when we can resubmit those names? This is about the money that Mr. Hardie has put forward, those three meetings.
Are we saying that there are three meetings for the money, to talk about the $647 million, and another meeting where we're looking at the previous witnesses left from the original salmon study? Or are we done the study and now we're just looking at the $647 million? I'm trying to figure this out. They're two different things.
If we have names left over, and we're bringing them back to talk about the $647 million, I don't know if that's everybody's priority. I certainly know that, from our priority, we're going to be wanting to bring back stakeholders who can talk about the money. Some of them have already appeared before the committee, but we're going to want to bring them back.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Mr. Johns, do you want to possibly set a deadline for the proposal of witnesses to the clerk to be able to contact them to come back for the salmon study, whether it's a repeat of a witness or a new witness?
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
That would be great, Mr. Chair. Can I just clarify, though, that we have three meetings left on salmon no matter what? Is there just one left of the original and we have three more on the money, or are we just going to the money for the next three?
I can see Mr. Beech indicating three, so I imagine that's....
NDP
Gord Johns NDP Courtenay—Alberni, BC
Okay. I propose that we have some time—maybe until Friday—to get names to the clerk in terms of our witnesses for the money, if everybody agrees to that.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ken McDonald
Okay. The deadline for additional or repeat witnesses to finish off the salmon study is noon eastern, this Friday, which is April 30, of course, the end of the month.
Mr. Morrissey, you have your hand up.
Liberal
Bobby Morrissey Liberal Egmont, PE
Mr. Chair, you may have clarified it, but we can submit new names. I had a list that I forwarded to the clerk. They would be new names. They were not on the old list, but we can consider those as well on the Friday deadline. Am I clear?