Evidence of meeting #56 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was clerk.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Arnold Chan Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
We'd have to go to Wellington if we did that, but that's....
Conservative
John Nater Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON
I suspect they would be eager to come before the committee, but they are running for the leadership and given their travel schedules.... I suspect that's very important to them at this point. We could show some flexibility on that if that's an option.
Liberal
Arnold Chan Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Further to that undertaking, can I just get a sense of when you think you could report back once you've had those conversations with their two respective offices? Can you report it to the clerk so the rest of us can know on a reasonably timely basis? Again, we're willing to be flexible. We just want to have a sense of whether they are in fact available, and then the rest of it will kind of fall into place.
Conservative
John Nater Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON
Absolutely, and I think that's something the individuals themselves would like to have locked down, so we will undertake that as soon as we can and report through the clerk back to the committee.
Liberal
Arnold Chan Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Okay.
Mr. Chair, should we then perhaps consider going to Wellington for the next meeting, if it's available?
That would give you the flexibility, Mr. Nater, if video conferencing is one of your options, to at least know we have that room. I think that's the only room we can actually....
Liberal
Arnold Chan Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Can you possibly work that option out? That way we will know in advance. I'm just trying to figure out how we will do this structurally. If, let's say, they're not available until two weeks from now, then we won't have their evidence for a while.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
If they are available, what's the proposal for the meeting?
I'm not sure that the—
Liberal
Liberal
Arnold Chan Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Then the question is, what comes next?
Let's say they're not available. We haven't given notice to the Clerk and/or Speaker, whichever you want, and the head of PPS. I don't think PPS would come next. I think that would be after, given what you've discussed. We're probably looking at structure first, and then PPS and RCMP.
You could maybe give them some notice that it might be 12 o'clock or it might be one o'clock, and we'll inform them as quickly as we know. We'll probably need a really rapid response. I know it's pushing it, but maybe even by noon tomorrow. They should have a sense of their schedules for next week by now.
Conservative
Liberal
Conservative
John Nater Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON
I'm neutral on the leadership race. I'm not affiliated with anyone's camp.
Conservative
Conservative
John Nater Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON
I recognize that this is something that our side sees as a priority, and I know your side does as well, so we will do all we can to ensure that we get this—
Liberal
Arnold Chan Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Be mindful that we're also dealing with very busy people—the Speaker and/or the Clerk—and we have to give them some clear direction on when we expect them to show up.
Conservative
John Nater Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON
Absolutely, but perhaps as a committee we can make the decision now that for the next two meetings generally we want them.
Liberal
Arnold Chan Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
I agree. I think the next two meetings are the privilege meetings, no matter what. It's just a matter of who goes where. We just don't know right now, because we don't know who's available.
Conservative
John Nater Conservative Perth—Wellington, ON
Perhaps the clerk could undertake that scheduling, once we confirm that, as well, and that way we won't have to come back to the committee to make further changes.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Okay. If they are available, it will be the researcher, the offended MPs, the Clerk and/or the Speaker. If they're not available, then we'll just have the two hours, the report and the Clerk and/or the Speaker.
Liberal