Procedure and House Affairs Committee on June 7th, 2007

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Colleagues, if I could just interject, it sounds to me as though there needs to be some work done on this motion.

I'm not sure how to get that information back to Mr. Guimond; it would be his responsibility to fix his own motion. We do not have a quorum to make a decision, so I'm going to have to stick with the committee's original decision to discuss this further on Tuesday. However, I think it would be appropriate for Mr. Guimond to be aware of our concerns with respect to this motion.

As the chair, I want to readvise members of decisions made earlier when we had quorum--that is, we're moving to clause-by-clause study of Bill C-54. I am going to be courteous to Mr. Guimond and offer him some time on Tuesday at the end of the meeting. If this is a long, drawn-out discussion, then I think we're in a little bit of trouble and I can't do anything about it.

Discussions on this issue are concluded, in my opinion. Is there any more business for this committee? We are in public.

I'll take a question from Mr. Godin.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I had one question. We're not in clause-by-clause. I could say it directly, but—

There is one question. We were supposed to get some experts, and they did not show up. Some of them are in retirement and they don't have to be here the day after we ask them, but we end up with no witnesses to question, except for one on the law of Ontario. We're not getting the expertise.

I don't know if we could get an answer to one of the questions I was looking for. What about the person and the association when they make a loan? It is three persons when they make the loan; is it the association that made the loan? Do you remember when I was raising that question?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Mr. Godin, I wrote the question down exactly, and I believe we already have an answer, but we certainly have an opinion on the answer to that question.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Maybe it's not fair to give the answer because we don't have quorum, but before we start clause-by-clause—Could we get it before that, because we have to make amendments before 11 on Monday?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

We have asked the witnesses who could not appear today to offer their opinions on the report. We're not convinced we're going to get one, but it's been asked.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Could I get an answer by tomorrow at noon on the question I raised?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Oui.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Okay. Merci.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Any further business?

All good?

The meeting is adjourned.