Government Operations Committee on Feb. 3rd, 2009

[The Chair, Liberal, Derek Lee]

Mr. Warkentin, did you want to add something at this point?

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

Maybe I can just get clarification. Right now it reads “Liberal, Bloc, Conservative, New Democrat”. Mr. McTeague, are you suggesting that we then scratch out that Liberal and go directly to...?

[The Chair, Liberal, Derek Lee]

Could I clarify that what we're talking about here is the second round and not the first round. Mr. Warkentin is only talking about the second round. I want to comment on the first round, but we'll come back to that later.

[Dan McTeague, Liberal, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Chair, I just wanted to make it clear that I was referring to the second round.

[The Chair, Liberal, Derek Lee]

Therefore, Mr. Warkentin may want to reread.

Mr. Anders, in the meantime, do you want to comment? It's not necessary.

[Rob Anders, Conservative, Calgary West, AB]

I understand. If an accommodation has been worked out among the opposition, then I will hold my tongue.

[The Chair, Liberal, Derek Lee]

Does anybody else on the opposition side want to speak to this? While Mr. Warkentin is doing his math, I want to address the lineup for the first round. And I'm certainly in your hands, but I don't like giving the first three rounds to the opposition parties and then going to the government. Because there is often an opposition perspective on things and a government perspective, leaving the government perspective to the last is sometimes unhelpful, and for that reason, some committees do the first two rounds in opposition, then go to the government round, then go back to the opposition. I think that's a more equitable way to do this, but if members want to retain the Liberal, Bloc, NDP, and then government first round, we certainly can. That's okay. I just like the other lineup a little better.

So I'll stop there. We're now back on the second-round issue, and I'll take any interventions on that.

Mr. Martin.

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

I want to thank the Liberals for the math they did and for the compromise they put forward. I appreciate that very much, and in round two we'll be very satisfied with that generous offer.

It doesn't change my concerns about round one, though. Whether you have the way you like it--two opposition, one government, and back--I don't see why it carries on afterwards. I think round one is going to be an awfully long round of seven and eight minutes if you go back to the Liberals and back to the Conservatives and still call that round one. I consider round one to be one complete round in which each party speaks, and then we begin round two, and then we begin round three.

Could I ask--and this is the last thing I'll intervene on--that round one be considered a four-part round of each party speaking once?

[The Chair, Liberal, Derek Lee]

Unless I've misread it, that's how the first round is shown--each of the parties. Have I misread it?

[Pat Martin, NDP, Winnipeg Centre, MB]

No, it's not. It says Liberal, Bloc, Conservative, New Democrat, Liberal, Conservative.

[The Chair, Liberal, Derek Lee]

I tend to agree with Mr. Martin on this. That's a round and a half.

I understand why political parties get a slightly bigger first round, but that is a first round.

In contention here we have the issue of the first round in some way and then the second round.

Mr. Warkentin.

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

I have no problem changing the first round, because it is the eight-minute round, and I think everyone can establish their position or question in depth or in detail. My concern is that if we drop the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party before we move to the second round, we still have the issue of getting.... I guess I'm just concerned about the members on this side all getting an opportunity to voice something during the rounds. So I want to make sure we haven't reduced the ability for them to get up by doing this, but I have no problem at least dropping the eight minutes to five minutes, moving into that second Liberal and Conservative question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Derek Lee]

I apologize. I have been misreading this as well. I am sorry if I've misled people.

Anyway, I hear what you're saying, Mr. Warkentin. You would be comfortable clipping the first eight-minute rounds for the four parties. Four eight-minute rounds--

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

But I'm still concerned. I'm not sure I'm prepared to just drop the Liberal and the Conservative question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Derek Lee]

You want to move it over to the second round. Okay.

Would there be a consensus then to call the first round four eight-minute rounds, set out as it is here--Liberal, Bloc, Conservative, NDP--then move to a second round? We will still have to construct that.

Mr. McTeague, on that.

[Dan McTeague, Liberal, Pickering—Scarborough East, ON]

Chair, Mr. Martin has indicated it's the first round that is of interest to him and his party. I see no objection to the first round being changed so that all parties have one, as it were, kick at the can.

However, that would mean that in order to capture what Mr. Warkentin has said, and what I have suggested here, to reflect the representation of the committee more accurately in the House and on committee, we would then leave the second round the way it is drafted.

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

So we would drop the two in the first round, and then go to the original of the second round. I think that is a valuable compromise, and I'm prepared to support that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Derek Lee]

At this particular moment, Mr. Martin is not available. But I do note that if we were to adopt it as it's currently being discussed, the NDP would have an opening round and one second round and that's it.

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

I think Mr. Martin's concern was that they'd miss the second round because of time constraints, but I think we have addressed that by scrapping the two eight-minute rounds earlier on. I don't want to speak on his behalf if in fact that's not his concern.

[The Chair, Liberal, Derek Lee]

Mr. Thibeault, do you have thoughts?

[Glenn Thibeault, NDP, Sudbury, ON]

Welcome to my first committee meeting, eh?

[The Chair, Liberal, Derek Lee]

I want to note that Mr. Thibault is joining us from the NDP.

Mr. Thibeault.

[Glenn Thibeault, NDP, Sudbury, ON]

Just so I understand what is being proposed, we have Liberal, Bloc, Conservative, New Democratic in the first round. Is that correct? The Liberal and the Conservative Party questions from that first round have now been moved to the second round. They have been cancelled out, right? But the generous offer by the Liberals now has been changed, so we're actually going back to Liberal, Bloc, Conservative; Liberal, Conservative, Bloc, and then the New Democrats.

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

I don't think there would ever be a time that we wouldn't get to that second New Democratic slot. I think the concern originally, especially in a condensed meeting, was that possibly you'd only get one opportunity to speak. But this for sure allows a second round for the New Democrat member, because of the--

[Glenn Thibeault, NDP, Sudbury, ON]

Mr. Martin's original concern was related to time, so if we're eliminating the two at the front, then the time issue shouldn't be a factor.