Evidence of meeting #1 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Pierre Paul-Hus Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC
Thank you. During Zoom meetings, we don’t have the opportunity of talking to our colleagues, but I want to say that I agree with what Mrs. Vignola suggested. The Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs adopted that suggestion, which all committees are discussing. I think it’s a fairer way of allocating speaking time.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Robert Gordon Kitchen
Mr. Green, I saw your hand first, and then we have Mr. Gerretsen.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
I just want to note that although our previous chair was good in his discretion, there were times when we were pushed out for various reasons—technical reasons—from our last round. I think that PROC, very rightly in their wisdom, with Mr. Lukiwski, have identified this as being a standard, being the pre-eminent committee on committees.
In that collaborative spirit, I would strongly suggest that we carve this out in the way that it's been presented by Ms. Vignola so that we take the burden off Mr. Kitchen as the chair to have to make decisions on the fly that may or may not impact the way we're able to collaboratively work together.
Conservative
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Thank you very much, Robert.
By the way, I serve on the PROC committee with Tom, and he's very knowledgeable. You have big shoes to fill, but congratulations on your new position.
I just want to say that at the PROC committee we had a lot of debate and discussion on this. We ended up coming down on it the way that has been proposed by Madame Vignola. The way we left it was that if there is any time after the expiration of the way it was laid out, then the chair could use that additional time to share, at their discretion, amongst the various different committee members.
That's just a thought for our deliberations on this.
Conservative
Conservative
Kelly McCauley Conservative Edmonton West, AB
Thanks very much for everyone's input.
I'm fine with what Mr. Paul-Hus was saying. I'm sorry that I'm flip-flopping a bit, but it's not a hill to die on. I'm fine with following up on Mr. Paul-Hus's comments.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Robert Gordon Kitchen
Okay.
I appreciate the kind words. It's correct that I do have some huge shoes to fill in this role. I look forward to that opportunity.
I do want to make certain that all members of the committee get an opportunity to ask their questions. In that aspect, from my years on the veterans affairs committee as well as HESA, I have noticed that as the time get tight, sometimes the Bloc [Technical difficulty—Editor]. I want to make certain that this is recognized throughout and that they do get those opportunities and are not being shortchanged when we get into those situations.
At this point in time, we basically have two proposals in front of us. One is what we have gone with in the past. The other is to reword it so that during the second round we go with the Conservatives for five minutes, the Liberals for two and a half minutes, the Bloc for two and a half minutes, the NDP for five minutes, the Conservatives for five minutes, and then the Liberals.
I guess I will ask for a vote on that. If we accept that, we will go that route. If not, we will stay with what is there.
Go ahead, Ms. Vignola.
Bloc
Julie Vignola Bloc Beauport—Limoilou, QC
My motion also suggested that the time for witnesses to make their opening statements be reduced from 10 minutes to 5 minutes, so that we would have more time for questions.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Robert Gordon Kitchen
Correct. I apologize. I missed that.
Yes, we are voting on that part as well, to go from 10 minutes to five minutes per witness, along with the change in times.
The Clerk
Mr. Chair, I have found a copy of the motion that was adopted by PROC. I believe it is the same as the one Madame Vignola read out. If you wish, I can read it back to the committee to ensure that they know what they are voting on.
Conservative
The Clerk
The motion that was adopted by PROC is as follows:
That witnesses be given five (5) minutes for their opening statements; that whenever possible, witnesses provide the committee with their opening statements 72 hours in advance; that, at the discretion of the Chair, during the questioning of witnesses, there be allocated six (6) minutes for the first questioner of each party as follows: Round 1:
Conservative Party
Liberal Party
Bloc Québécois
New Democratic Party
For the second and subsequent rounds, the order and time for questioning be as follows:
Conservative Party, five (5) minutes
Liberal Party, five (5) minutes
Bloc Québécois, two and a half (2.5) minutes
New Democratic Party, two and a half (2.5) minutes
Conservative Party, five (5) minutes
Liberal Party, five (5) minutes
Conservative
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
I'm sorry, are we reading it out to vote on it, or is it still debatable?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Robert Gordon Kitchen
I was under the impression that we had finished the debate on it and were going to the vote on it.
Liberal
Mark Gerretsen Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Okay. I was going to explain why we chose to reduce it to six minutes at PROC, but I'm happy to just proceed with the vote.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Robert Gordon Kitchen
I am calling for the vote.
(Motion agreed to)
It's pretty well unanimous, so we will make that change.
Thank you very much, everybody. Well done.
That's the first vote we've run, and I'm so happy I chaired a vote.
October 8th, 2020 / 11:30 a.m.
Liberal
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Robert Gordon Kitchen
Okay, we'll move on to the motion on document distribution:
That the clerk of the committee be authorized to distribute documents to members of the committee only when such documents exist in both official languages, and that witnesses be advised accordingly.
Is there any discussion on this?
Conservative
Pierre Paul-Hus Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC
Mr. Chair, I would like to say something.
Conservative
Pierre Paul-Hus Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC
Thank you. In other committees, documents often happened to be in English only. It was always claimed that there was a lack of time for translation. It is necessary to keep an eye on this, because it is very important for Francophones.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Robert Gordon Kitchen
Thank you for that.
I believe this basically requires that to happen, and I think it's correct that unless we seek permission from the whole committee to have it put out in one language that we require everything to be in both languages.
Is there any other discussion on this?
Seeing none, raise a hand if you are in favour.
(Motion agreed to)
The next one is on working meals:
That the clerk of the committee be authorized to make the necessary arrangements to provide working meals for the committee and its subcommittees.
Is there any discussion?
Mr. Gerretsen.
