Procedure and House Affairs Committee on May 15th, 2007

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Mr. Chair, when we started this meeting this morning, you advised us that the part that would be dealing with Mr. Silva's request would be from 11:30 to 12:30. Then from 12:30 on, we would be discussing, as is indicated on the agenda, committee business. Out of the blue, you've added that you want to have some time prior to one o'clock to discuss further with the steering committee.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Correct.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

That's fine, except that you are the one who said when we first started that we would go until 12:30 on Mr. Silva's file. I don't mind following rules and regulations, but I don't appreciate when we change them as we go along, regardless of—excuse me, sir, I'm not done—whether it's done for one side of the table or the other.

So would you please advise us of your decision? Are we done at 12:30 or not?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Mr. Proulx, if you check the minutes, you will see that I offered the witness up until 12:30 if that was necessary. It appears that more is necessary. Prior to accusing the chair of something that you're perceiving, you might want to check the public records.

We'll continue with this discussion until we're done with the witness. If your side or if anybody else wants to put a motion on the floor, we'll do that, and we will follow the rules, which you, sir, are fully aware of.

Mr. Reid.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

I was just going to say I'm not sure if this—

[Louis Plamondon, Bloc, Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour, QC]

I have a point of order. We have to finish at 12:30. But why do you decide to continue? We have to decide, all of us, if we continue or not, and we have to take a vote—

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

I'm waiting for a motion. I've said that a couple of times. I'm waiting for a motion.

[Louis Plamondon, Bloc, Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour, QC]

—on that, if we have enough interest to continue.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

We don't have to take a vote until there's a motion on the floor.

Mr. Reid.

[Louis Plamondon, Bloc, Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour, QC]

A motion?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Are you putting a motion on the floor, sir?

[Louis Plamondon, Bloc, Bas-Richelieu—Nicolet—Bécancour, QC]

I will propose a motion to see if you have permission to continue.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

You don't have the floor, sir. I will put your name back down. If you want the floor, I'll give you the floor in due course.

Mr. Reid, please.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I've been interrupted by two points of order, and I'm not sure if this is in order, but I was going to propose a motion that we suspend the hearing with the witness so that we can move to the items of future business that you said we wanted to deal with.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

That's appropriate. I have a motion on the floor.

[Libby Davies, NDP, Vancouver East, BC]

What was the motion?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Would you repeat the motion, please, Mr. Reid?

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

That we'd suspend whatever we're.... I don't know if it's to a future meeting or not, but just so we can do the future business.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

The motion is to...I'm going to guess it's not “suspend”, it's “defer”—

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Is that what it is?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

It's to continue discussions, because we're not done with this. The motion is to defer this meeting so that we can basically adjourn this part of the meeting and deal with future business. Is that correct?

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Well, I'm not sure if adjourning would—

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Change the subject matter, move to future business that's on the agenda. Move to the next item on the agenda.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

Is that what it is? That means we can come back to it, right?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Yes.

Are we clear on the motion, colleagues? The motion before us is that we adjourn the debate, defer it to another time, continue this meeting with what's on the agenda, which is future business and, if we have time, steering committee. Are we clear on that?

(Motion negatived)