Evidence of meeting #26 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 40th Parliament, 3rd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was convention.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joe Preston
Excuse me. The president of the Senate in Australia is Senator Hogg. We spent some time together this summer.
I apologize for the slip. I have not promoted Professor Hogg.
Senator Hogg in Australia is a great character, if you get to meet him.
So I'm kind of where I've said that we would go forward with that.
Mr. Lukiwski.
Conservative
Tom Lukiwski Conservative Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK
I just want to lend my support to your suggestion on how to proceed by talking about getting the referendum discussion going, and Mr. Chong. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Mr. Chong's motion that was passed in the House was to have the study completed within six months.
Not that it would take six months, but when you're trying to prioritize what studies or what this committee does in terms of priorities, I think it is a good idea to get all of the stuff we have before us, at least have one meeting under our belts, and then sit down and say, “We've heard prorogation, referendums, Mr. Chong's motion, so what do we want to get into first?”
If it's prorogation, great. If it's Mr. Chong's motion, because we have a time fuse on that, fine. If it's the Referendum Act, fine. But let's hear all of the information first. It should only take one meeting per, so well before our Christmas break we should have a pretty good calendar of what we want to study when we come back.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joe Preston
As I look at this, we have four or five meeting slots still open before our Christmas break, and that was the idea, to decide how we're going to fill them.
Mr. Christopherson said a very wise thing earlier, too, that after we've seen all three or four of these presentations, we really need take it to caucuses. Some decisions need to be made other than at this table, too. We could then give it some thought and then come back.
I'm just suggesting as the chair that we make no decision until we've heard all three or four of the pieces, and then make the decision.
Mr. Proulx.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
I have no objection as long as we know that the Prime Minister is not going to pull another prorogation on us while we're discussing it.
Liberal
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joe Preston
Well, you see, that would vary the convention of the chair making predictions, and we don't want to start that.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
No, no, I don't want you to make a prediction; I want you to try to get a commitment from the Prime Minister so we can study all of these different facets with peace of mind.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joe Preston
I will write out a list of conditions for you also, and we'll see if we can get there.
Liberal
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joe Preston
Is there anything further on this? I really don't want to get into discussing the next steps on it until we can discuss the next steps on all.
I know I'm throwing my opinion at the committee today, but this will work, I think. If we get to the end and I'm wrong, please beat me up on the day that we get to the end and it didn't work. But I think this is a better way of getting information out there.
We have a small amount of committee business to do. We'll just go in camera for it, because we tend to do that.
[Proceedings continue in camera]