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.
Conservative
Leona Alleslev Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Okay, and I won't belabour it, obviously.
The first one is timely. It would be that the foreign affairs and international development committee invite the Minister of Foreign Affairs to appear in person before the committee for a two-hour televised meeting no later than Friday, March 13, and that the minister be given 10 minutes for his opening statement and that the remaining time be allotted for questions and comments from members of the committee—particularly in light of the fact that the supplemental estimates have been tabled.
Liberal
Rob Oliphant Liberal Don Valley West, ON
I'm just wondering whether this is a request for the minister to appear on estimates, or whether it's a request for the minister to appear on his mandate letter, or on....
I just want this to be clear, because we usually have the minister come, at some point, on mandate letter and we usually have the minister come at some point on estimates. We could combine the two in one, if that were the understanding.
I just wasn't sure, because the estimates were added in. We have received estimates. We have to report back—I'm just looking at the clerk—
Conservative
Liberal
Rob Oliphant Liberal Don Valley West, ON
It's a floating deadline based on opposition days, etc.
What's our best guess, in your...?
The Clerk
It's three sitting days before March 26, unless the last opposition day changes—
Conservative
Leona Alleslev Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
—hence, the timeliness of this March 13 deadline, to ensure that we have the opportunity.
The motion is for a two-hour meeting. That was the thinking: that we would be able to have two hours to do this but would consider supplementary estimates in the course of it and therefore meet the deadline of whatever it is—March 21?
Liberal
Rob Oliphant Liberal Don Valley West, ON
I just wanted to clarify.
It's primarily, the estimates, then, what the request is about. I just wanted to be clear.
Conservative
Leona Alleslev Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
It's the estimates and everything else.
Bloc
Stéphane Bergeron Bloc Montarville, QC
I was just about to ask the same type of question that Mr. Oliphant just asked. First of all, on the question of consideration of estimates, I must admit that two hours to consider both the mandate letters and the estimates seems short to me.
To give you an example, as Minister of Public Safety in the National Assembly, I was on the hot seat for five hours, and the Minister of Health could be there for 12 or even 20 hours. So, two hours to consider both the estimates and the mandate letters seems very short to me.
I need clarification on another matter. Would we receive the Minister of Foreign Affairs only or the Minister of International Development as well? Will it be possible to hear from the Minister of International Development at some stage?
We need clarification, but yes, it's interesting to have this discussion among ourselves.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Levitt
MP Bergeron, if you would like both ministers to attend, you could amend MP Alleslev's motion.
Conservative
Leona Alleslev Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Usually we only get the minister for an hour. Asking for two hours to hear both ministers at the same time is a bigger request. Normally, we do not have two hours to discuss estimates.
Liberal
Rob Oliphant Liberal Don Valley West, ON
I was just seeking clarity, because in my years here, since 2008, ministers have come for an hour. That is the practice of standing committees of the House of Commons. That is what has happened. If someone wants to change that, I understand, but we need to think about that. The normal practice is that ministers come for one hour and are subject to questioning, and their officials stay and are available for the second hour.
We are open. If the committee wants, we can request that the minister come for two hours. That is certainly fine. If it is for two hours, that would be a long time on estimates. It would depend on how open the chair is to having members go off topic at the estimates discussion, and there seems to be some freedom given by some chairs on the estimates. However, scheduling is always a problem. The estimates cover both development and foreign affairs, so it may be appropriate to have both ministers and have two hours. Have them at the same time, and you can take on both of them.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Levitt
We'll go back to MP Bergeron's postulation, and that was whether we can add the international development minister to the motion, if there's a willingness.
MP Harris.
NDP
Jack Harris NDP St. John's East, NL
My question is about whether this is on the estimates. As Mr. Oliphant pointed out, some chairs are lenient in this regard, but they do not have to be. If someone objects to a question because it's not strictly on the estimates, then the chair would have to make a ruling.
I'm not sure what the intention is here. Is it going to be open ended? Well, let's make it open ended and not call it just on the estimates. That way you can ask questions on the estimates and anything else, because if you call it on the estimates then you're relying on the goodwill of the chair, and I have no reason to doubt goodwill, but chairs also have to follow the rules if someone calls upon them to do so.
Conservative
Leona Alleslev Conservative Aurora—Oak Ridges—Richmond Hill, ON
Again, the motion is to have the minister for two hours to discuss anything and everything that we feel we need to hear from him. Obviously, we're in a situation where foreign affairs has taken on an increasingly larger part of the Canadian domestic conversation at this point, in terms of what's going on at the UN Security Council, in Iran and in China. We do have a China committee, but at the same time we have lots of foreign affairs questions, including the estimates. That's why we think we need two hours to deal with both topics.
If we also want the international development minister, then that would be a separate motion for a separate occasion, because ultimately we as a committee for foreign affairs need to have the opportunity to really understand everything that's going on in foreign affairs, including the financial aspect. That's why I'm putting forward a motion for the two hours.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Levitt
Thank you. MP Alleslev provided clarity on the intent. It's the estimates and the broader discussion, so that wouldn't be limited to just the estimates.
MP Spengemann, go ahead, please.
February 20th, 2020 / 4:05 p.m.
Liberal
Sven Spengemann Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Mr. Chair, I'm new to the committee but I'm advised that the relationship in the past Parliament was extremely constructive and that this committee has indeed done some great work. Past practice doesn't bind this committee, but what has been done in the past in terms of inviting either both ministers or a sequence of those two ministers? How did it work in the past Parliament?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Michael Levitt
I'm trying to think of how we did the estimates the last time around. We had them separately.