Evidence of meeting #15 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was clerk.
A recording is available from Parliament.
3:30 p.m.
The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Marc-Olivier Girard
CTV and CBC are allowed as long as they maintain their cameras on their tripods.
3:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
It is in public, yes.
I can see media here. I have hit the gavel.
I was expecting ministers, but unfortunately they are not here.
Yes, Ms. Coady.
3:30 p.m.
Liberal
Siobhan Coady Liberal St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
Thank you, Madam Chair, and welcome back. I hope you had a successful trip.
I'm very, very glad that you are here today, as I'm quite outraged, to be quite frank, that we have no witnesses appearing before us today, that we were turned down by--
3:30 p.m.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
On a point of order, Madam Chair.
Did you bang your gavel already?
3:30 p.m.
Some hon. members
Oh, oh!
3:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
I banged my gavel and asked the media to leave, but I was told CTV and CBC were allowed to be here.
3:30 p.m.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
I see.
It seems like a bit of a set-up. We should have been advised that this type of thing was....
3:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
I guess we couldn't be in a room that the government channel could televise, so we had to be here.
3:30 p.m.
The Clerk
The Afghanistan committee is in one of the main rooms of Centre Block, and the other one is Status of Women.
3:30 p.m.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
They're always welcome. It's just that I wish I'd had some advance notice.
3:30 p.m.
Liberal
Siobhan Coady Liberal St. John's South—Mount Pearl, NL
I'm sure what my colleague is referring to is the fact that we would normally be televised today, so we're glad to see that some media are here.
As I was saying, I'm quite outraged that we have no witnesses before us today. I'm quite concerned about that. I feel that my responsibilities and duties as a parliamentarian.... I've been sent here by the good people of my riding of St. John's South—Mount Pearl. I have a fiduciary responsibility and I take that quite seriously. I feel that I'm being denied, actually, my rights and responsibilities to question people on this concern.
We are in the midst of a fairly serious study on a very serious matter of public trust, and I'm quite frustrated by the unwillingness of the ministers to appear. I'd like to talk a little bit about that. You know, I don't know what they're quite afraid of.
I want to ensure, Madam Chair--I want to make it very clear--that witnesses appear on this very serious matter. I want to ensure that they appear before we break for our summer recess, and I want to review with you the full review of who I would like to have before the committee.
Before I do that, let me explain why I'm quite frustrated today. We asked Minister Raitt to appear today. She sent you a letter saying that she's responding to the request in her capacity as the former Minister of Natural Resources, and that her office has searched for relevant records and no records were found.
Well, that, I guess, is of concern, because the Liberal Party did file an access to information request on April 16, and that request has come back to us saying that they need to go further to get the requested documents. They're indicating that more consultations with other government departments and third parties will be required, and verbally have said, yes, there is information here.
Again, I'm frustrated that this is coming out in dribs and drabs. I'm not quite sure why it is doing that and why this information is coming to us in this manner. If the Conservatives are quite serious about being open and transparent, then I suggest they do start becoming open and transparent.
Allow me to talk for a moment. We're dealing with future business here today. I want to talk about my suggestions on the list of witnesses. And I'd like to make sure that this committee is available any time Minister Raitt or Minister Paradis would like to appear. If that requires us to have special meetings, if it requires us to sit during constituency week, then I think we should make ourselves available.
I had suggested at our last committee meeting May 10, and I would like to again suggest, that we have the Parliamentary Budget Officer on Corrections. We did have a discussion about that, and I would again like to reiterate that I think this is a timely and important topic. It advances further the business of this committee, and I think we have to move forward on that.
I reiterate that I would like to have on May 12, then, Derrick Snowdy. I know he was requested to come today. He was not available. I'd like to hear about why he's not available today and if he would be available for another time, along with Ian Harvey; he's with HD Retail Solutions Inc. I'd like to have them here together, if I could.
On May 26, I'd like to have Jim Wright here for the first hour--we talked about that in our last committee meeting--and then the other companies for the second hour. When I say “other companies”, for clarity that's Upper Canada Solar Generation Limited, Canadian Solar Incorporated, and Renewable Energy Group Incorporated.
Then, on May 31, because we do have a duty toward main estimates, I'd like to have PCO on the main estimates. On June 2, I would like to have a panel of what I'll call staffers, or people involved in the various ministers' offices: Andrew House, he's in Minister Goodyear's office; Scott Wenger in Minister Prentice's office; Sébastien Togneri--
3:35 p.m.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
You handed me this list half an hour ago and told me that this was the decision of the committee. I took it that this must have been prepared by the clerk, on your direction, to advise me of the agreed-upon list of witnesses.
I now find that the Liberal member, who has just taken the floor, starts to read directly from this list that I had presumed--I believed you, at face value--the clerk had prepared and was going to be our marching orders.
Now it seems that this was actually Siobhan's wish list, given to you, and you've dutifully given it to me.
You're supposed to be a neutral and independent chair, not the maidservant, the handmaiden, of the Liberal Party. This really bugs me. You weren't here, but we went through planning meeting after planning meeting where we were told, “Oh, May 10 and May 12 are not available. No, no, we have to have the main estimates.” They even looked up the motion from a month ago where we agreed on those dates, so our protestations were put aside. And now you arrive back from your international travels, take your marching orders from the Liberals, and tell me that's what we're doing and it's going to be ratified here at this meeting.
3:35 p.m.
NDP
Pat Martin NDP Winnipeg Centre, MB
Who's running this committee? I liked it better when the vice-chair was running it.
3:35 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
Mr. Martin, I did not tell you that the clerk had given me the list.