Evidence of meeting #1 for Health in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
I got into a little trouble the last time by not entertaining a motion. If you want to deal with it that way, we can.
11:50 a.m.
Bloc
Christiane Gagnon Bloc Québec, QC
Mr. Chairman, could we add the words “of his party” after the words “staff person”?
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
Yes, we're animals of our own destiny. With this motion, we can amend it however we see fit.
For clarification, maybe we can have the clerk read the one we had before, and then we can debate it.
11:50 a.m.
The Clerk
That, unless otherwise ordered, each Committee member be allowed to have one staff person present at in camera meetings only when the member himself or herself is absent for a documented reason.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
I think the issue on this was how many staff we actually allowed in the room when we went in camera, and we didn't allow any unless a member had written permission to have them there. I feel this is a little tight, but it's up to you. It's not a big issue from my perspective, but we'll open the floor to debate on that.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
Dave Batters Conservative Palliser, SK
I move that we adopt this motion as written here, regardless of what happened in the 38th Parliament.
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
We have a motion on the floor. If Madame Gagnon would like to amend that, then we would open the floor to an amendment.
11:50 a.m.
An hon. member
[Inaudible--Editor]
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
That's an accepted amendment? All right.
So is everyone clear, first on the amendment, or is that seen as a friendly amendment?
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
11:50 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
No. So then it's on the amended motion.
Is everyone clear on it? Maybe I'll have the clerk read it out.
11:50 a.m.
The Clerk
In English, it would be: “That, unless otherwise ordered, each Committee member be allowed to be accompanied by one staff person”--from his or her party, I guess--“at in camera meetings”--something like that.
(Motion agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Bonnie Brown Liberal Oakville, ON
That will eliminate all the fun from our meetings, when people are listening outside.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
The chair would like to get a little aggressive in committee, but I can't disclose anything that happened in camera.
Motion 9 deals with in camera meeting transcripts. That's very standard. We'd entertain a motion to accept motion 9.
Mr. Dykstra moves it. Is there any discussion?
(Motion agreed to)
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
Motion 10, on notice of motions, is our last one. This is a 48-hour rule, and Friday is to be deemed the same as Monday.
We ran into a little trouble on this one.
11:55 a.m.
The Clerk
Yes. This is the standard motion except for that part, where it says notice given on Friday is considered to be given on Monday.
That's what we had in the previous Parliament, but I put it in.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
Okay. So this is custom fit to address some of the problems we had last time.
Is there any discussion on that? Or we can entertain a motion, actually.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
11:55 a.m.
Bloc
Christiane Gagnon Bloc Québec, QC
Mr. Chairman, I would like to table a motion. I want the Minister of Health to appear before the committee to discuss the negotiations that were held, in the context of a Memorandum of Understanding, on the people who were infected with AIDS or hepatitis C.
Negotiations are currently underway, and we receive a high number of calls from people wanting to know where things stand and whether they will be compensated in the near future.
This week, in the House, a member of the New Democratic Party asked a question of the Minister of Health on this matter. Our party also has similar questions for him. We want to know where the negotiations stand. The victims are very concerned.
We realize that your government has made a commitment on this matter; we just want to know the state of play.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Merrifield
I'm going to ask the parliamentary secretary to address this, because I do know the minister is keen to come to the committee and answer some of those.
Mr. Fletcher.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Steven Fletcher Conservative Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia, MB
I'd like to reassure the member and the victims that the Conservative Party is committed to its campaign promise. I'm not sure that, given the situation, if we brought the minister forward, he would be able to answer specific questions, but the minister has already indicated that he would like to come to the committee on June 6, if the committee so wishes. I guess at that time you could ask any questions you wish, including the ones you have just mentioned.
So there is no need for a formal motion. He's coming on June 6, if the committee will have him.
11:55 a.m.
Conservative