Government Operations Committee on March 20th, 2007

[Louise Thibault, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

I would like to remove the reference to the minister responsible, who happens to be the Prime Minister. I want to move an amendment to remove that part of the motion. The person who can discuss these matters with us will testify before us. It will definitely not be the Prime Minister, because that will not be accepted.

(Amendment agreed to)

(Motion as amended agreed to)

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

We'll see when we can get the director to come before us.

[Raymond Simard, Liberal, Saint Boniface, MB]

Well, we have an opening on March 29.

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

Yes.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

On a point of information, some days ago we discussed the possibility of doing a study on the impact of the mass retirements that we expect.

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

Yes, that's on the agenda.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

It's on the agenda? Okay, thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

We're actually going to be having someone come forward on Thursday on that issue.

[Pierre Poilievre, Conservative, Nepean—Carleton, ON]

On Thursday. Okay, forgive my ignorance.

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

There's another motion on the floor.

Madame Nash.

[Peggy Nash, NDP, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Yes, the other motion is that the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates immediately undertake a study of the report by the Public Appointments Commission Secretariat on the Immigration and Refugee Board's appointments process prepared for the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, and that the committee report its findings to the House of Commons.

I so move.

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

Debate?

Madame Thibault.

[Louise Thibault, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

I would just like to suggest a friendly amendment to Ms. Peggy Nash.

I move that the motion read as follows:

That the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates immediately undertake the study of the report by the Public Appointments Commission Secretariat on the appointments process for various agencies such as the Immigration and Refugee Board, the Parole Board, the National Advisory Council on Aging, and so on, and that the committee report its findings to the House of Commons.

That would allow us to look at a few agencies. We would include the one you mentioned, but we would not look at it alone, and we would not be relying solely on the report prepared for the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration.

We will go further, and the motion will mean that in future, if we still have some doubts about appointments, and if we want to challenge the process, the field would be wide open, because we would already have a motion on this. We could say that further to the motion passed by the committee, we would undertake a particular study. That is why I am moving this friendly amendment.

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

Mr. Kramp.

[Daryl Kramp, Conservative, Prince Edward—Hastings, ON]

Madam Chair, after passing the first motion, I just find that it really reads into what we should be doing. Let's just take it step by step.

The first motion passed. After our witnesses are pulled in, it could potentially lead to the second motion, but let's just see what the first person has to say. Perhaps that could be answered already.

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

Madame Thibault.

[Louise Thibault, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

I have some reservations about this. I have no doubt that my colleague's intentions are good. However, I am very concerned, as are Ms. Nash and my colleague, because there have been and will be appointments that seem unacceptable. We could start asking questions immediately about the way in which these appointments were made.

Looking at general, overall activities is one thing, but now we have some examples of appointments that have been made. This could be part of our future plans. We could mention a few agencies, but there will be more than three. We would include the words “for example” and “and so on”, and that would allow us to look at all the appointments, if we want to.

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

Madame Nash.

[Peggy Nash, NDP, Parkdale—High Park, ON]

Yes. I also agree that we should be looking at some of the specific appointments, because there has been real concern about the nature of some of these appointments. And I'd like to know how these appointments are getting made and what are the criteria. I think we have an obligation to review the process.

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

Yes, Monsieur Simard.

[Raymond Simard, Liberal, Saint Boniface, MB]

Yes, I think one of the issues with Mr. Kramp's proposal is that it takes a long time to get witnesses lined up to appear before us, so I would suggest that we get them both going at the same time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

On the amendment of Madame Thibault, I would take it that we have the gist of what it is she wants. Do we need to have a written amendment? Can we just read it out?

Would you please re-read your amendment, Ms. Thibault?

[Louise Thibault, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

The amended motion would read as follows:

That the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates immediately undertake a study of the report by the Public Appointments Commission Secretariat on the appointments process for various agencies such as the Immigration and Refugee Board, the Parole Board, the National Advisory Council on Aging, and so on, and that the committee report its findings to the House of Commons.

(Amendment agreed to)

(Motion as amended agreed to)

[Louise Thibault, Bloc, Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC]

As far as our future business goes, Madam Chair, does that mean that—

[The Chair, Liberal, Diane Marleau]

We can look at the schedule.