Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Oct. 22nd, 2013

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

Thank you, Chair, and thanks, Nathan.

Just to short-circuit this a little bit on the role of the committee memberships—and I should have known this when I first spoke—because of the routine motions block that we've already passed, if the three whips sign off on the committee membership, Mr. Chair, you can table it today. It doesn't require this committee to do anything as long as all three whips agree.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

We do give that authority to the three whips from this committee from time to time, and so that's there, that they all sign off.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Does that exist without the committee having to do anything?

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

That's correct. The routine motions that we passed the first thing this morning as an order of business give the whips the authority to approve—

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

It allows the whips to do it. That's certainly a preference. So we'll allow the whips to have that conversation and then come back.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Mr. Lamoureux, why don't you try a point of order, because there are some people at the table who haven't had one yet.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Thank you. I appreciate that, Mr. Chair.

I would like clarification on a couple of other issues. I make reference to the 600 murdered and missing women and I make reference to transparency and accountability, two initiatives that were taken in good faith in terms of leaving the motion that was actually supported by the Liberals going forward. Those were to be acted on today. If we adjourn at one o'clock, they won't be acted on.

I'm just wondering, Mr. Chair, will we be adjourning at one o'clock, or does the government see us going past one o'clock? How is that going to be dealt with? The politics aside, these two issues are very important to us. How will they be addressed if we do adjourn at one o'clock?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

It's not truly a point of order, but it's great information to share with all of us.

Mr. Lukiwski, on another point of order that will be similar to that...?

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

Yes, just to respond to Kevin, we're adjourning at one o'clock. That's my understanding.

The committee you're talking about, clearly, the special legislative committee, and the work that this committee will be doing eventually are part and parcel of what I'm suggesting. If the whips get together and they sign off on a membership, including those two committees, Mr. Preston as chair can table that report today and committees can begin their work. There's no delay. We're saying, let's get the committees up and running. All you need is the whips to agree and we're done.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

But you won't table this—

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

I enjoy hearing you speak so often, David.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

And you will.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

Well, we have a couple of minutes more—

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

I love all the distraction—it's great—but David was saying some very nice things about the chair, so I'd like to give the floor back to him.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

You just underscored why I made the compliments Chair.

Do you want me to go back and start that part over?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

I'm working on my next householder, and some of this stuff is very important to me.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

I did that to Senator Runciman one time. The House was ending and I was Solicitor General at the time. The Conservatives, Runciman, Harris, and law and order: you can imagine the run I'd had with him. He got up late one night towards the end when the House was getting ready to adjourn and said some really nice things about me as Solicitor General. I put them right in my householder: “even the opposition said he did a great job”. Yes, it worked.

Anyway, that said, this again is an example of why this is a good committee to be on, because there are smart, funny people here, with experience, who care, with an excellent chair. That's why it's so heartbreaking to see such an undemocratic procedure being taken. It speaks to this government's propensity for shortcuts. They're forever looking for democratic shortcuts.

I don't know about you, but one of the shows that I like to tape and keep on when I'm getting ready—and I don't know why, because it's about plane crashes— is Mayday. What I like about it is that at the end they talk about all the safety precautions that are built into that entire procedure.

I see this as similar. It's mayday, folks. Democracy is getting ready to crash and burn here. There are systems in place that prevent that. That's why a lot of that Mayday stuff is about shortcuts that are taken by pilots and co-pilots who are thinking that it's not important and it's not a big deal. Maybe you can get away with it eight or nine times out of ten, but that one time you can't, and this is the same way.

Yes, Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

We're not at one o'clock now, but we're very close to it. If it's okay to interrupt you, I'd like to ask if we could have unanimous consent, because it's one of the things I have to get done today, or it would make my life a whole lot easier—

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Chair, I can make this easier for you. My boss on this committee is my House leader, so I would suggest that I'd be quite willing to forfeit the floor. You can chat with my House leader, who can give you answers on those things, because I'm not empowered to do so.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

I'd like to ask you—if it's not given, it's not given—to permit the nomination of Mr. MacKenzie to chair the Subcommittee on Private Members' Business. Once once we have that done, other things can happen from that subcommittee once we've passed unanimous consent for Mr. MacKenzie to chair it.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

So that's to allow this private members' business subcommittee to be constituted and then conduct its business...?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Right.

[Nathan Cullen, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Yes, I think that's more than reasonable.