Evidence of meeting #1 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
Do I get an announcement in your newsletter on how we have been compromising?
NDP
The Chair NDP Pat Martin
What a nice guy. It's like Camelot.
But I can't mail into your riding anymore--
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
And we moved the Liberals up a little bit in that one, so....
NDP
The Chair NDP Pat Martin
It still doesn't.... I guess if you viewed the original, the Liberals would be getting to their round of questioning at about the same time.
If we had contemplated 10-minute rounds each, you would be getting your turn after 20 minutes of questioning. What Mike just proposed is that you'd be getting your turn after 25 minutes of questioning.
In the interests of fairness, just to get us off to a good start, I was wondering if there would be interest in letting the Liberals have the third five-minute slot.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
It's your slot. If you want to give it up to them, that's up to the NDP.
NDP
The Chair NDP Pat Martin
Well, yes. It's just that we do want to.... I don't want this to be a real stumbling block. In the interests of fairness, we want all three parties to be represented virtually equally, never mind their obvious disproportion. As far as questioning goes, it's the opposition side that needs to get the answers, especially in the government operations committee. The government side already knows the answers to all the questions that the government members are testifying about.
When you have a technical witness here from the Department of Industry, your members can be briefed by the Department of Industry on all those issues. We have to go fishing.
I'm not trying to give away time. It's not the chair's role, actually, and here I am, probably intervening as if I were a committee member. I'll leave it at that. I just had a thought.
Peter Julian is next in line.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
Well, there have actually been two proposals put on the table, Mr. Chair, and I think we are working our way gradually toward a compromise.
Of course, if what you're proposing is that the Liberal Party move up in the first round, that could not follow in subsequent rounds--
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
--because what that would mean, of course, is that Mr. McCallum would actually get more of a speaking order than the official opposition, which I'm sure he would disagree with as well.
It would allow for that traditional first round of all three parties, but it would mean that we're having a second round that is different from the first round.
NDP
The Chair NDP Pat Martin
Yes, it would.
My interest, just so you know, is this. I have been on that side, obviously, for 14 years and I know that everybody wants to question the witness while the issues are fresh. If you make one party wait until 35 minutes have actually gone by before there is a chance to ask the first question, the member is not really part of the process, in my view.
If there were willingness, if we could make it so that all three parties got one five-minute shot, and then maybe because of the ratio and proportion issue the Liberals may have to skip a round or wait longer for their second turn....
But with five-minute rounds, there would be a second turn, and you would still get your 11% or 15% of the--
Conservative
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
I'm not saying we can't, Mr. Chair, but I'm going to move this along so we're not here all day.
I am going to move the speaking order. I move number two, I guess it is, on this list: the witnesses will be given five to ten minutes for opening statements at the discretion of the chair--which I agree with--and then the order will be all five-minute rounds, with the New Democrats first, then Conservatives, New Democrats, Conservatives, and Liberals. One round and that round will continue: we don't need a second round. That's everybody.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
Yes, and a Conservative at the end. Sorry. I didn't say the Conservative at the end.
Conservative