Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Dec. 6th, 2007

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Thank you very much, Mr. Angus.

Mr. Paquette.

[Pierre Paquette, Bloc, Joliette, QC]

Based on your information, we will withdraw this amendment and come back to it another time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

All right. Madam Redman, please.

[Karen Redman, Liberal, Kitchener Centre, ON]

I think there's a lot of merit to this. Is there any way that the clerk...?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

I'm sorry, Madam Redman, I should have mentioned that. We do have a motion to withdraw. I need unanimous consent to withdraw amendment BQ-5.

My apologies, colleagues.

(Amendment withdrawn [See Minutes of Proceedings])

(On clause 6)

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

We have one amendment, amendment L-4, which you'll find on page 10 of your packet. This is put forward in the name of Mrs. Redman.

Mrs. Redman, would you be kind enough to introduce the amendment?

[Karen Redman, Liberal, Kitchener Centre, ON]

It's replacing the heading before line 39 on page 3 with “ADVANCE POLLING”, as opposed to “FIRST FOUR DAYS OF ADVANCE POLLING”. It's more housekeeping than anything.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Regrettably, headings are outside the texts of the bill. According to Marleau and Montpetit, page 657, headings do not form part of the text, and changes to them are actually out of order.

I should have probably jumped on that.

[Karen Redman, Liberal, Kitchener Centre, ON]

Just for clarification, if that is no longer an appropriate title, it would be changed just as a matter of housekeeping?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

I'm not sure how to deal with that. But we can't change headings.

Well, I guess we can. The committee is the master of its own.... If anybody has any issues, Marleau and Montpetit is pretty clear.

Mr. Reid.

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

I stand to be corrected here, but this isn't part of the bill. It has no legal weight. I think what would happen is that whoever does the printing of these things would just change it automatically.

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

On a point of order, Mr. Chair, could we have a confirmation of this from the experts?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

We certainly can. I'll read right out of Marleau and Montpetit.

I'm just kidding.

Please, if we have any points....

[Marc Chénier]

Since they are not part of the bill, it would be a logical interpretation that the person codifying the act would take that into consideration when printing the act, just to reflect what the clause already says, although with respect to the cross-references in terms of offences, the Chief Electoral Officer has been reluctant to do so in the past. So if there was an indication from this committee that this was indeed the intent, I think that would potentially help the Chief Electoral Officer to do this.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Did the members all hear that? Does anybody need further clarification on that?

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

I heard part of it, because it was noisy in the room. My understanding is that he suggests we do accept the change. Right?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

I think what we're agreeing here is that this is a heading and it's inconsequential, and I'm ruling the amendment out of order.

(Clause 6 agreed to)

(On clause 7)

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

There are a number of amendments put forward. The first we received was amendment NDP-2. You'll find that on page 11.

I'll ask Mr. Angus if he wishes to introduce this.

[Charlie Angus, NDP, Timmins—James Bay, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It's substantially similar to a motion that was brought forward also by Madame Redman and Madame Picard. When it refers to the first four days of advance polling, it would just say at the “station at 8:00 p.m. on each of the days of advance polling”. The only difference is that they would refer to “the first four days”; I'm simply saying “the days” of advance polling. It's a housekeeping item, which I'm sure you will rule is an excellent idea on our part.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

It's so good, in fact, that it's the same amendment as BQ-6 and LIB-5. I do see it as relevant, so if we want to debate this, we certainly can.

Shall we call the question? Shall the amendment NDP-2, which is the same as BQ-6 and LIB-5...[Technical difficulties—Editor].

Let's deal with that separately, colleagues, and go back to just the NDP amendment. Let's just deal with that, because it has been pointed out to me that there's one word that's different in the other two. For the most part it's inconsequential, but we do have to deal with it properly.

Shall amendment NDP-2, which you have found on page 11, carry?

(Amendment agreed to on division [See Minutes of Proceedings])

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Amendment BQ-6 is very similar, colleagues, and it is being withdrawn.

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

Do we need unanimous consent?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

My clerk is telling me they weren't moved, so no, we don't have to have that.

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

Just having them here doesn't mean they're moved yet, so you can therefore—

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Correct. We can even actually go into a bit of a discussion before I rule, just for clarification, but they do have to be put forward.

Colleagues, we're on amendment BQ-7 now, which you'll find on page 14 in your packets, and which also pertains to clause 7. This is put forward in the name of Ms. Picard, and I'll ask Ms. Picard to put this amendment on the table.