Evidence of meeting #28 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 agreed.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
I think we should begin by dealing with the estimates so we can get that over with. Then we can move in camera to study the draft report on accrual accounting.
We're going to start with vote 95a.
CANADIAN HERITAGE Public Service Commission Vote 95a--Program expenditures..........$2,100,944
(Vote 95a agreed to)
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
Shall the chair report vote 95a under Canadian Heritage to the House?
11:10 a.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
Shall vote 1a under Governor General carry?
GOVERNOR GENERAL Vote 1a--Program expenditures..........$320,818
(Vote 1a agreed to)
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
11:10 a.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
Shall vote 1a and vote 10a under Privy Council carry?
PRIVY COUNCIL Department Vote 1a--Program expenditures..........$16,435,412 Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board Vote 10a--Program expenditures..........$1,573,856
(Votes 1a and 10a agreed to)
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
Shall the chair report votes 1a and 10a under Privy Council to the House?
11:10 a.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
Let's do the others then.
Do you want to wait to do all of Public Works together?
11:10 a.m.
Conservative
James Moore Conservative Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC
Why do we have to wait until the end? Let's just deal with Ms. Chow's motion. Just do it in sequence.
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
It's up to you.
Vote 5a is fine.
Mr. Moore says he wants to deal with Madame Chow's motion right away.
Please read it into the record.
11:10 a.m.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
This $8.4 million is part of the administrative and the advertising cost of the universal child care benefit and--
11:10 a.m.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
It has been circulated, I believe.
It's that vote 1a under Public Works and Government Services be reduced by $8 million--
11:10 a.m.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
That's not how it reads, Madam Chair. I believe the one that was circulated talks about $107,473. That's the one that was circulated.
11:10 a.m.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
Madame Chair, to be very clear, I submitted a motion earlier that basically said to take out on page 243 of the budget estimates, Public Works and Government Services, vote 1a, the funding for the administration and delivery of the universal child care benefit to Canadian families with young children. The dollar amount is $8.437 million.
The clerk then wrote a motion of some kind--
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
Raymond Bonin Liberal Nickel Belt, ON
Point of order, Madam Chair. We're into a debate. We don't have a motion on the floor.
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
11:10 a.m.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
The one we circulated is different from what Olivia is reading. I just want clarification as to whether we're debating the one she circulated or the one she's now talking about.
11:10 a.m.
Conservative
11:10 a.m.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
Mine still says $107,473. It has nothing to do with millions of dollars.
November 23rd, 2006 / 11:10 a.m.
The Clerk of the Committee Ms. Bibiane Ouellette
It's the way it's written.
11:10 a.m.
Bloc
Louise Thibault Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
I'd like to propose a friendly amendment to my colleague. I suggest that we say: “as it appears on page [...] Vote [...]”. That way, everyone will understand that of course, the reference is to $107,473,862, because figures in the book are always expressed in thousands of dollars. They will also understand that the figures in question are $8,347,000 and $99,036,000, because these are drawn exactly from your book. I think that's what you mean. It's a friendly amendment.
11:10 a.m.
An hon. member
hat's a pretty good friendly amendment.
11:10 a.m.
Bloc
Louise Thibault Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
t's a good friendly amendment. The amendment essentially says, on page....
11:10 a.m.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
Yes. It's $107 million. I guess I didn't....
My motion was very clear when I first amended it.
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
Okay.
We have a friendly amendment to make it clearer. Is that carried?
11:10 a.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
11:15 a.m.
Liberal
11:15 a.m.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
I was going to.
This reads, to be precise: that vote 1a in the amount of $107,473,000 under Public Works and Government Services be reduced by $8,437,000 to $99,036,000.
11:15 a.m.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
I'm of the firm belief, and the NDP is of the belief, that the universal child care benefit should be delivered with the Canada child tax benefit. It is the same department. It should be on the same cheque.
In Quebec that dollar has been transferred to the Quebec government, and the Quebec government has.... The Bloc has always taken the position to have that cheque sent through the Quebec government. That has been the argument from day one.
The Conservative government chose to have a separate cheque and have a separate advertisement. The advertisement is in another budget at $2 million, to advertise universal child care. It comes with its own flyer and its own envelope. There's a radio ad and a newspaper advertisement. This dollar amount, together with other amounts, means that close to $27 million is used to deliver this program.
I'm of the opinion that it still should be delivered through the child tax benefit program. There has been an established program for quite a few years. It works quite well--even though, one could say, it's a Liberal program. I've always been in support of this child tax benefit, and it could have been done through there.
The entire amount is actually $16 million through Canada Revenue Agency. That's the main delivery program. Social Development has $1.98 million for advertisements, and Public Works and Government Services has $8.4 million.
What I'm trying to say is that this is an amount that should not be there. I would much prefer it if this money had been delivered through Canada child tax benefit, because it would save $27 million in total of Canadian taxpayers' money. It would also respect the right of the Quebec government to send the cheque directly, the way it's been done, with an agreement with the Quebec government. Outside Quebec, it would mean that it would come in one envelope, one cheque, through the Canada child tax benefit.
11:15 a.m.
An hon. member
Let's put the question.
11:15 a.m.
Liberal
11:15 a.m.
Conservative
11:15 a.m.
Some hon. members
Oh, oh!
11:15 a.m.
An hon. member
Grinch.
11:15 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
Shall votes 1a, 5a, and 10a under Public Works and Government Services carry?
PUBLIC WORKS AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES
1a—Operating expenditures--To authorize the transfer of $2,877,360 from Public Works and Government Services Vote 5, $235,600 from Human Resources and Skills Development Vote 1, and $26,000 from Treasury Board Vote 1, Appropriation Act No. 1, 2006-2007 for the purposes of this Vote and to provide a further amount of..........$107,473,862
5a—Capital expenditures--To authorize the transfer of $13,479,000 from Public Works and Government Services Vote 1, Appropriation Act No. 1, 2006-2007 for the purposes of this Vote and to provide a further amount of..........$10,554,000
10a—The grants listed in the Estimates.........$41,670,000
(Votes 1a, 5a, and 10a agreed to)
11:15 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
Shall the chair report votes 1a, 5a, and 10a under Public Works and Government Services to the House?
11:15 a.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
11:15 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
Shall votes 1a, 2a, and 15a under Treasury Board carry?
TREASURY BOARD Secretariat
1a—Operating expenditures and authority to expend revenues received during the fiscal year arising from activities of the Treasury Board Secretariat--To authorize the transfer of $6,092,432 from Privy Council Vote 1 and $1,084,000 from Citizenship and Immigration Vote 1, Appropriation Act No. 1, 2006-2007 for the purposes of this Vote and to provide a further amount of.........$9,516,736
2a—Contributions--To authorize the transfer of $230,000 from Treasury Board Vote 1, and $86,039,000 from Citizenship and Immigration Vote 5, Appropriation Act No. 1, 2006-2007 for the purposes of this Vote..........$1
15a—Compensation Adjustments--Subject to the approval of the Treasury Board, to supplement other appropriations, that may need to be partially or fully funded, as a result of adjustments made to terms and conditions of service or employment of the public service including members of the RCMP and the Canadian Forces...........$407,994,000
(Votes 1a, 2a, and 15a agreed to)
11:15 a.m.
Bloc
Louise Thibault Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
Madam Chair, I just wanted to point out that Vote 15 has been omitted from the French version. We skip from Vote 10 to Vote 20.
11:15 a.m.
Bloc
Louise Thibault Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
No. I simply wanted to point this out so that you could update your documents.
11:15 a.m.
Bloc
Louise Thibault Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
I understand. Generally speaking, both versions are identical.
11:15 a.m.
Conservative
11:15 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
Moving along, shall votes 20a, 27a and 30a under the heading “Treasury Board” carry?
TREASURY BOARD Secretariat 20a---Public Service Insurance.................$ 3,046,228 27a---Program expenditures---To authorize the transfer of $13,000 from Industry Vote 1, Appropriation Act No. 1, 2006-2007 for the purpose of this Vote and to provide a further amount of ................$ 2,838,666 Total Agency...............$ 2,838,666 Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada 30a---Program expenditures -- To authorize the transfer of $166,898 from Privy Council Vote 1, Appropriation Act No. 1, 2006-2007 for the purpose of this Vote and to provide a further amount of .......$ 788,237
(Votes 20a, 27a and 30a agreed to)
Shall the committee instruct the Chair to report to the House votes 1a, 15a, 20a, 27a 30a under “Treasury Board”.
11:15 a.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Diane Marleau
Okay, done.
We'll take one-minute break and move in camera.
[Proceedings continue in camera]
