Health Committee on Feb. 3rd, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

I missed that. I'm sorry.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

No problem. Did you want to take the floor?

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Sure. That was the last one. I missed that. There are time limits for witnesses' statements and for questions. The witnesses should be allowed up 10 minutes to make their opening statements, but in this case, if there are three, we're going to restrict it to eight.

For rotation by time, one Conservative member of the committee would have six minutes, one Liberal six minutes, one NDP six minutes, and another Liberal six minutes. In the second round, the Liberals would have six minutes, the Conservatives six minutes, the Liberals six minutes, the Conservatives five minutes, and the NDP three minutes.

Yes, Mr. Carrie.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Mr. Chair, in the document I received on the health committee work, during the questioning of witnesses, seven minutes are allotted for the first round of questioning, and in the second and subsequent rounds of questioning, five minutes are allotted to each questioner.

I believe that PROC adopted that timeline. I believe that what they put forward was that the Liberals would start first. It would be Liberal, Conservative, NDP, Liberal for the first round of seven minutes, and then CPC, Liberal, CPC, Liberal, NDP for the second round, which would be five, five, five, five, and two minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

It works for me, but how does the committee feel?

Mr. Davies.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

I support Colin's suggestion, but my information from PROC is that in the second round the order is five, five, five, five, and three minutes for the NDP. That's what I have written down.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Is the second round five, five, five...?

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Five and three. So the second round is Conservative, Liberal, Conservative, Liberal, and then NDP, and it's five, five, five, five, and three. I think he said two minutes, but PROC has three minutes.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

In the interest of warm and fuzziness and co-operation, I'm happy to accept my NDP colleague's amendment to what I have put in front of you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Yes, I agree with it too. In the interest of warmth and fuzziness and sunny ways, and all those sorts of thing, I agree with that.

I think we all bring something to the table, and I would welcome Mr. Davies' contribution on an equal footing.

What is your proposal again? Yours is the same as Mr. Carrie's, except it's five minutes for the NDP. Is that correct?

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

He said three.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Three minutes.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

I'd happily take five, but—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

You might run out.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

He referred to PROC's proposal where it was five, five, five, five, and three minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Is that all right with you?

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Again, I'd prefer five minutes. I like the equal footing, so I'd prefer that, but, if not, I'll happily take three.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

The chair will try to be fair. How's that?

The proposal is seven minutes each for the first round, and then for the second round, five, five, five, five, and three minutes.

[John Oliver, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

I just want to be clear on that seven minutes each. It's Liberal, Conservative, NDP, Liberal for seven minutes, so there are two seven-minute blocks for Liberal, one for Conservative, and one for NDP in the first round—

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

Well now, let me see.

[John Oliver, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

—and the second round is Conservative, Liberal, Conservative, Liberal, NDP.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

The proposal by Mr. Carrie is Liberal, Conservative, NDP, and Liberal for seven minutes.

[John Oliver, Liberal, Oakville, ON]

Seven minutes each, yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Bill Casey]

The second round is Conservative, Liberal, Conservative, Liberal, and then NDP.

Is everybody in agreement with that? It sounds fair.

(Motion agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

All right, great; we have a changed rotation time, then.

Is there anything else that anybody wants to bring up at this moment?

Yes, Mr. Davies

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Mr. Chairman, I have a few motions that are often made to supplement the standard routine motions. The first motion would be that all documents referred to the committee be sent to all members.