Evidence of meeting #1 for Foreign Affairs and International Development in the 40th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
Mr. Obhrai, what you are really suggesting here is a subamendment to the motion. Your subamendment would be for the addition of one more government member on the steering committee. Is that correct?
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
It's the last Parliament.
Are there any other comments on Mr. Obhrai's position?
Mr. Patry.
Liberal
Bernard Patry Liberal Pierrefonds—Dollard, QC
Yes, we need to discuss the one by Mr. Dewar first, because what you said was to get two Conservatives. That's what you wanted to add, but you deleted the parliamentary secretary that time. That's one of the two.... It doesn't matter.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
I think what Mr. Obhrai is saying is that if you take out the parliamentary secretary from the motion and just allow the government to decide which two or three....
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
Yes.
Mr. Dewar, are you suggesting the parliamentary secretary should not be on the steering committee?
Conservative
NDP
Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON
It's a very simple amendment. Just drop the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and include.... We already have the composition of the chair and two vice-chairs--you have your complement right there--and a member from the Conservatives, and that is fine, but I'm talking specifically about the parliamentary secretary. I reference the McGrath commission, which said there shouldn't be parliamentary secretaries on committees at all. Fair enough. Not everyone agrees with that. But I'm saying that when we're talking about the steering committee, the subcommittee, the committee should be able to be separate from, if you will, the reach of the cabinet.
Parliamentary secretaries do not ask questions in the House, and neither do ministers. Committees should be able to do their own business without that. I don't think it precludes Mr. Obhrai's intervention and contribution--we all welcome that--but in terms of the steering committee, there should not be a parliamentary secretary. So you would have chair, vice-chairs, a member from the other side, Mr. Goldring, Mr. Lunney, Ms. Brown, whom I don't know but will soon know, and they can do a wonderful job. To not have the parliamentary secretary in the steering committee I think gives them opportunity and it levels the field, if you will.
Conservative
Peter Goldring Conservative Edmonton East, AB
I think possibly there's a third option that can be looked at here: the chair, two vice-chairs, two government members, one of whom may be parliamentary secretary to the minister. That can be given as an option.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
I don't think you have to put anything about “may be parliamentary secretary”.
Conservative
Bloc
Paul Crête Bloc Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC
I think we have to go back to the true nature of the position. Committees are normally independent from government action. The desire is that committees can control their own agenda and make their own choices. The question really has nothing to do with the parliamentary secretary as a person, but we have to ask ourselves, if, as a committee, we want to be completely autonomous, whether someone who is on the committee to represent the government should be there. In that sense, I think that the ideal situation would be, as my NDP colleague has suggested, to remove the parliamentary secretary. It is all about giving ourselves as many opportunities as we can to operate autonomously when making the choices that we will soon have to make about our future work and about how the steering committee should proceed. That never prevents the government from making its views known through any of its members, who are in the majority.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
Thank you, Mr. Crête.
Mr. Obhrai.
We have a speaking list here, so if you want to be put on, please let me know.
Conservative
Deepak Obhrai Conservative Calgary East, AB
Mr. Chair, there is a problem here. One minute we say we're independent, and the next minute you have somebody from the other side telling us who is going to be on the committee and who is not going to be on the committee. The choice of who is going to be on the committee from the government side is going to be made by the government side, not by the NDP or by the opposition. Therefore, calling for this is actually not conducive to running this thing.
I would suggest you allow that choice on the government side. I'm not asking who should be there from the other side. I'm not pointing the finger and saying who you should appoint. What is yours is yours; what is ours is ours. Therefore, I cannot accept the amendment that says the NDP is going to tell us who is going to be in the chair or who is not going to be in the chair. It is our prerogative to decide, and we will decide on that.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
Thank you, Mr. Obhrai.
Mr. Lunney, Mr. Patry, and then Mr. Dewar.
Conservative
James Lunney Conservative Nanaimo—Alberni, BC
I've been around a few years and served on a number of committees, but it seems to me that most of the time, regardless of which side of the House we're sitting on, the composition of the steering committee was somewhat reflective of the proportions of the party representation in the House. Out of respect, it's only fair and reasonable to expect that the government would be represented on the steering committee by at least the two members. In fact, probably to be fair it should be three members of the government--the PS, the chair, and one other relevant to three on the other side--
