Foreign Affairs Committee on June 3rd, 2008

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Angela Crandall]

It would read:

That pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) the Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs and International Development report to the House that the Government announce its response in a reasonable time to the Advisory Group Report: National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Canadian Extractive Industry in Developing Countries.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Are you all right with that, Paul?

[Vivian Barbot, Bloc, Papineau, QC]

There's something wrong in it, but I don't know what.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Okay. Read it one more time for Madame Barbot and all of us.

[The Clerk]

It would say that the government announce its response in a reasonable time to the advisory group....

Or maybe it should say that the committee “recommends” that the government announce its response...?

[Deepak Obhrai, Conservative, Calgary East, AB]

Or “provides its response in a reasonable time”.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Madame Barbot.

[Vivian Barbot, Bloc, Papineau, QC]

Mr. Chairman, you may recall that I tabled an identical motion calling on the minister to appear once he has given us his answer. This motion has already been passed. Consequently, I see no need to ask the government once again to give us its answer so that we can report it back to the House.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Is the motion in order or is it a duplicate motion? It's been deemed in order, so I take it that it's different.

[The Clerk]

Before it was amended it was different. Now it's essentially the same as Madame Barbot's.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

All right. That doesn't mean we can't pass this one as well.

[Vivian Barbot, Bloc, Papineau, QC]

No, it says the same thing.

[The Clerk]

The difference, I believe, is that this one is asking that we report it to the House.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

According to the clerk, the difference in this motion is that we have the responsibility of reporting it back to the House, which wasn't part of your motion. I think you can still claim victory if this motion passes. But now you've won, Mr. Dewar's won, and Mr. Obhrai's won, because we will report it back to the House.

Mr. Patry.

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

It says the government should provide its response in a reasonable time. It has had since March 29, 2007, to provide a response. It has been 16 months. That doesn't mean anything. It should say before the end of the session, period. If we want to do something we need that line. In a reasonable time...he's got all this time. We're going to look stupid.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

I can tell you this: Minister Emerson that night said that this was coming. I mean, it's going to come fairly soon, I understand.

[Bernard Patry, Liberal, Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC]

It should come before the end of this session.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

The minister probably hasn't disclosed when he's going to do it, but it will be coming in a timely fashion.

Mr. Dewar.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

I think Mr. Patry has a good point. There has been a compromise from my side to not be prescriptive to the motion. It's open-ended to say the government provide their response, and we're simply being reasonable here. As I mentioned before, it's been more than 450 days. Last year they said it would be in a month or so, and here we are this time, this year.

So I think it's reasonable to say that the government provide its response before the end of the session. If they say they can't provide it, and here's why, fine. But I don't understand. There is a compromise here and we're getting somewhere, so why doesn't the government side want to provide a general timeline? We're not saying next Wednesday; we're saying by the end of the session. It's totally reasonable.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

All right. The problem is this: we have an amendment on the floor. I guess it's kind of iffy. It's Mr. Obhrai's amendment, although you helped him wordsmith it. Now you're wanting to change that amendment. But we're in the midst of debating what the clerk has read back as the motion we're going to amend.

Are we ready for the question on Mr. Obhrai's amended motion?

[An hon. member]

Friendly.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Yes, friendly amendment.

I'll read this again:

That pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development recommend to the House that the Government provide its response in a reasonable time to the Advisory Group Report: National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Canadian Extractive Industry in Developing Countries.

We will vote on the amendment.

[Paul Dewar, NDP, Ottawa Centre, ON]

Just so it is clear to everyone, if we pass the amendment, we then go to the question, and that could be amended. That is just to be clear to everyone--hint, hint.

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Yes, and I'll be clear to everyone too: that would become a debatable motion, and our time is up. So I want to pass this amendment so that at least we can come back to the full motion on the next day.

We will vote on Mr. Obhrai's friendly amendment to the motion.

(Amendment agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Kevin Sorenson]

Now our time is up. It's 5:30. Can we resume debate...?