Evidence of meeting #1 for Foreign Affairs and International Development in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
3:50 p.m.
Liberal
Sven Spengemann Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Chair, the next motion is on in camera meetings transcripts:
That one copy of the transcript of each in camera meeting be kept in the Committee Clerk's office for consultation by members of the Committee or by their staff.
(Motion agreed to)
3:50 p.m.
NDP
Jack Harris NDP St. John's East, NL
I know we've finished with all these, but could I ask a question on the subcommittee on international human rights? Are these subcommittees permitted to publish their own reports, or do they have to come to the committee?
I'm just wondering whether that—
3:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Levitt
I chaired that for a while. The reports are brought here.
Generally, that committee operates by consensus. They then present the report to the full committee, to our committee. Then we adopt it at this committee here and it's published under our auspices.
3:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Levitt
Correct.
Well, it's our report. We adopt it here. It's our report, but it's done by the subcommittee.
3:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Levitt
We could, but we haven't.
It's my understanding that, going back quite a ways, there has not been.... Certainly, in the last Parliament we didn't amend them, because all of the reports brought here were consensus reports; they were unanimous.
MP Alleslev.
3:50 p.m.
Conservative
Leona Alleslev Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
However, if there isn't consensus and we want to make recommendations, it's still within our purview to do so.
3:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Levitt
Correct. We could do that. That's right.
Next we go to notice of motions, MP Spengemann.
3:50 p.m.
Liberal
Sven Spengemann Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Thank you, Chair.
Here is the motion on notice of motions:
That a 48 hours notice, interpreted as two nights, shall be required for any substantive motion to be considered by the committee, unless the substantive motion relates directly to business then under consideration, provided that (1) the notice be filed with the Clerk of the committee no later than 4:00 p.m. (EST) from Monday to Friday; that (2) the motion be distributed to members in both official languages by the Clerk on the same day the said notice was transmitted if it was received no later than the deadline hour; and that (3) notices received after the deadline hour or on non-business days be deemed to have been received during the next business day, and that when the committee is travelling on official business, no substantive motions may be moved.
3:50 p.m.
Liberal
3:50 p.m.
Liberal
Sven Spengemann Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Chair, the last one is on independent members, clause-by-clause:That, in relation to Orders of Reference from the House respecting Bills,
(a) the clerk of the committee shall, upon the committee receiving such an Order of Reference, write to each Member who is not a member of a caucus represented on the committee to invite those Members to file with the clerk of the committee, in both official languages, any amendments to the Bill, which is the subject of the said Order, which they would suggest that the committee consider;
(b) suggested amendments filed, pursuant to paragraph (a), at least 48 hours prior to the start of clause-by-clause consideration of the bill to which the amendments relate shall be deemed to be proposed during the said consideration, provided that the committee may, by motion, vary this deadline in respect of a given bill;
and (c) during the clause-by-clause consideration of a Bill, the Chair shall allow a Member who filed suggested amendments, pursuant to paragraph (a), an opportunity to make brief representations in support of them.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Levitt
Thank you very much.
(Motion agreed to)
There's another one that we adopted in the previous Parliament relating to gifts:
That the committee be authorized to purchase gifts to be presented to foreign hosts and visiting delegations.
It just didn't make it into the package. If it's the will of the committee, we'll adopt this as well. It was something that was just handy for the clerk to be able to do.
(Motion agreed to)
Thank you.
MP Alleslev.
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
Leona Alleslev Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
I would like to propose an additional routine motion for consideration.
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
Leona Alleslev Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
It is that all meetings, other than those deemed in camera, would be televised or, if that's not possible, then webcast wherever possible.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Levitt
Is there any discussion?
(Motion agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
Leona Alleslev Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
I would like to put some motions on notice for what we might be doing. I'm wondering whether now is a good time to do so.
3:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Levitt
This is a good point for discussion.
What I was going to suggest, based on previous operating procedure, is that we take those into the subcommittee, as we did in the previous Parliament, to have an initial discussion, working with the smaller group, on bringing them in. Of course, they will then come back in here, either as massive agreement among the members or, of course, if there's not agreement, they would come back in here anyway.
Would it be possible to have them tabled or have them brought for discussion next week?
3:55 p.m.
Conservative
Leona Alleslev Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
I would like to have an initial discussion with all the members here present, so that we can start exploring this, so that all committee members have an idea of what might be some of the “art of the possible” in terms of what we might discuss. Then we could decide what we want to do with them throughout the discussion.
3:55 p.m.
Bloc
