Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Dec. 4th, 2008

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

I would make it a request.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Okay.

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

I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, I didn't hear that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Madam Dawson has asked us to look at the areas of gifts and a couple of other questions that she has for us. Ms. Block asked if striking a subcommittee would be a way that we could look at that and have that come back to this committee collectively to look at, rather than doing that work at the table.

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

I certainly wouldn't have any objections as long as it's not run in the same way as the form subcommittee was run. I'm not saying it wasn't done properly, but it took so long that--

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Right. Well, that's another issue. We can only ask subcommittees to do their work.

Is it the will of the committee that we strike that subcommittee?

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

Mr. Chair, I'm certainly not opposed to the idea. I'm just wondering if there would be value in having at least one session with Ms. Dawson and the entire committee to get her input and have a bit of a discussion prior to giving it off to the subcommittee. To me, that would perhaps use our time more effectively.

But I'm not opposed to it. If it's a motion, I'll go with it.

[An hon. member]

Was it a motion?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

A request.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK]

I will make that motion.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

There you go, on the motion of striking a subcommittee to look at the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons, specifically in some of the areas Madam Dawson has asked for.

[Guy Lauzon, Conservative, Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON]

I wonder if Mrs. Block would consider Mr. Albrecht's friendly amendment that the first meeting be in committee of the whole.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

I was thinking there may be value in having broader input prior to going off into this little subcommittee.

Maybe, Mr. Chair, through you, if Ms. Dawson prefers to go to the subcommittee directly, I'm certainly okay with that. I don't know if she'd like to speak to the issue.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Really, what you're asking for is a separate proposal for the striking of a subcommittee.

Mr. Guimond.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

Will we be setting up the same type of subcommittee as the one created to discuss forms? We haven't talked about the makeup of this subcommittee. Will it have one representative per party?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

My next question is how we do membership.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

That's right.

With all due respect, producing a report on forms was a long and arduous process for the previous committee. Could we decide right away when the report should be tabled? We would need to have one fairly soon. Let's give ourselves a few months and work on getting together.

Those are the two issues that I have on my mind. That being said, we agree on striking a subcommittee.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

I hear two amendments to the original motion. One is on membership and the other is on a date for return of the report. Are we okay with amending the motion to have both of those things in it? What would membership be?

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

I suggest that one Member per party serve on this subcommittee and that the chair be elected by the membership. In any case, the subcommittee will report back to the main committee. It would be more of a working subcommittee and all of us would be involved. Whether the members decide amongst themselves or whether...

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

For a proposal on dates for return of the report?

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

I don't know and I'd like Ms. Dawson to give us her opinion on this. The report could be tabled immediately before the June recess. If we reconvene in late January and February, March and April go by, that's three months. However, I'm prepared to set a later date. If Ms. Dawson thinks it's possible, we could table the report by June 1 at the latest, or after three months.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Is June 1 an appropriate date for all? Great.

Could I have you attempt to read out what we've just done? You're going to love doing this for the committee.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. James M. Latimer]

Ms. Block moved that a subcommittee on the conflict of interest code for members of the House of Commons be created.

Mr. Guimond moved that the motion be amended by adding that the membership of the committee be one member of each party, and a subamendment was moved that the amendment be further amended by imposing a reporting deadline on the committee of June 1, 2009.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Mr. Proulx, on the subamendment.

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

Mr. Chair, I have a question. My understanding was that Ms. Block wanted a subcommittee strictly on gifts. The way we have prepared this it sounds like it is a wide open subcommittee on all of the code.