Evidence of meeting #1 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was going.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
9:35 a.m.
Bloc
Louise Thibault Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
Madam Chair, since we are all here, could we possibly discuss future business, unless members all have something else to do? I know that we are meeting on Tuesday, but if we could just take 30 or 45 minutes to begin the discussion and possibly take certain decisions, we would be ahead of the game.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
It will only take a couple of minutes. Do we need a motion to sit in camera?
The motion is that we move in camera and discuss future business so that we can move more quickly.
Mr. Kramp, do you want to speak before we go in camera?
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Daryl Kramp Conservative Prince Edward—Hastings, ON
Yes. I have a potential objection to going in camera on this. In the previous committee work I've done—and I'm not totally familiar with how this committee has operated here—an agenda was first discussed in the steering committee before it was brought forward to the committee of the whole. I'm not suggesting right now that we take--
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
I don't mind. Madame Thibault approached me and said she preferred if we went in camera, but she says now it doesn't matter.
9:35 a.m.
Bloc
Louise Thibault Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
I just think it's important that we have a discussion. If my colleagues don't want to sit in camera, I have no problem with that.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
If you don't want to go into it, we can have a discussion and have it recorded.
9:35 a.m.
Conservative
Daryl Kramp Conservative Prince Edward—Hastings, ON
It's not just a question of having it recorded. I think we should have a steering committee meeting that should discuss the agenda and then bring it back to this meeting.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
The reason I was not suggesting that immediately is because it delays what we can do in our first meeting. Our first meeting is next Tuesday morning. I would like it if we could at least agree on what we should do next Tuesday morning so we don't waste one slot discussing what we're going to do. To me it just makes sense.
Madame Thibault.
9:35 a.m.
Bloc
Louise Thibault Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
I will present a motion so we can move ahead more quickly. I suggest we invite Mr. Morgan before the committee next Tuesday. Since we have all the documents we need, we could move ahead quickly on an issue which is important for all members of every party, and which is a concern to many.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
Would you like us to invite Mr. Morgan to appear on Tuesday morning?
9:35 a.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
Would you like the meeting to be televised if we can get the appropriate room?
Okay.
In case Mr. Morgan cannot come on Tuesday morning, is there something else we could start working on?
9:35 a.m.
An hon. member
We have another witness.
9:35 a.m.
Bloc
Louise Thibault Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
I have the pleasure to announce that I have a list of potential witnesses.
The second witness, who will probably be on the Hill next Thursday, is the honourable Michael Fortier, the minister whom we do not have the pleasure of seeing in the House. We could begin by asking him questions about the new initiatives taken by the Department of Public Works and Government Services. However, I don't think we will have time to finish. In fact, I had the opportunity to discuss this with the clerk and her colleagues.
For instance, we could ask him about the review of the real estate portfolio. You may know that previously, there was a move afoot to sell government property. A study had even been done. We want to know what will happen with that. Then, there is the very important issue if shared services. There are potential savings to be had in the area of shared services. It might be a good idea to sound the minister out on that matter. There is also the issue of bundled procurements and, lastly, regional offices. Six regional offices have been created.
There is ample subject matter to be discussed with the Minister of Public Works and Government Services. And if that doesn't work out, I have a third witness for your consideration.
9:35 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
We will invite the Minister of Public Works and Government Services who, as you know, is a senator. We'll see whether he can appear before our committee. There shouldn't be a problem.
9:35 a.m.
Bloc
Louise Thibault Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
He assured me that he would be available.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
Daryl Kramp Conservative Prince Edward—Hastings, ON
I have no hesitation in getting to work, but I also think we have a number of new committees and members, and we have a number of new members of Parliament on this committee.
I think we should bring in a senior staffer to really expand upon the entire focus and the parameters of this committee so that we can make an intelligent decision as to where we should go with the input from everybody. Rather than just rush headlong into a multiple...I think we should have a direction. We should have a focus about where we're going: how, why, where, and what we want to accomplish. And until we have a broad overview, particularly with the inexperienced members on this committee, I think it would be a good suggestion to hold fire on going willy-nilly.
9:40 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
Mr. Kramp, we have some responsibilities that are directly ours, and we can certainly explain them to the new members. There is also quite a good book that was distributed to all the members, which explains that this committee is responsible for the Treasury Board, for the PCO, for Public Works--I don't have the list in front of me--and for a number of crown corporations. We are also responsible for the Governor General and the estimates.
We are masters of our own destiny. Now we know that the appointment of Mr. Morgan was referred to this committee, so there's nothing stopping us from doing that immediately.
We also know that we invite ministers. We will invite the President of the Treasury Board, the Minister of Public Works, the head of Canada Post, and the head of the public service, because they are basically under our review; they're not under our direction per se, but we review them.
So I think we should get started, and we should issue some letters. You'll have to understand, sometimes we want certain witnesses to come to us on a certain day but they can't. If that happens, then maybe we'll do a bit of an overview, and we'll have a longer discussion. That will allow us in the meantime to have a steering committee meeting and have a better idea of where we're going. But I would really like us not to waste committee time and to get going, because these things can take time in and of themselves.
Yes, Mr. Kramp.
9:40 a.m.
Conservative
Daryl Kramp Conservative Prince Edward—Hastings, ON
That's fine. Though I don't disagree with you, I do believe that by just carrying on, we're circumventing the activities of a steering committee. The purpose of a steering committee is to help set the flow--