Human Resources Committee on May 4th, 2006

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Christine Lafrance]

I see a quorum.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106, the committee can now proceed to the election of the chair.

I am ready to receive motions to that effect.

Mr. Brown.

[Patrick Brown, Conservative, Barrie, ON]

I nominate Dean Allison for the position of chair.

[The Clerk]

Mr. Patrick Brown proposes Mr. Dean Allison.

Thank you, sir.

Are there any further motions?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Clerk]

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Dean Allison duly elected chair of the committee.

Before inviting Mr. Allison to take the chair, the committee will now proceed to the election of vice-chairs.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

I nominate Mr. Jean-Claude D'Amours for the position of Vice-Chair.

[The Clerk]

Mr. Geoff Regan moves to nominate Mr. Jean-Claude D'Amours for the position of first Vice-Chair.

Are there any further motions?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Clerk]

I declare the motion carried and Monsieur D'Amours duly elected first vice-chair of the committee.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106, the committee will now proceed with the election of the second vice-chair, who must be, according to the Standing Orders, a member of an opposition party other than the official opposition.

Ms. Bonsant.

[France Bonsant, Bloc, Compton—Stanstead, QC]

I nominate Mr. Yves Lessard.

[The Clerk]

Are there any further motions?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Clerk]

I declare the motion carried and Monsieur Lessard duly elected second vice-chair of the committee.

I now invite Mr. Allison to take the chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

We'd like to take care of some routine motions today, if that's possible. Is everyone in agreement with that? Let's distribute those motions. We can have a look at them and try to get them passed.

Two sets of motions are being handed out. One is standard and the other includes the routine motions that were dealt with in this committee in the last Parliament. We can work from either copy, or we can work from the routine motions that were adopted by the previous committee. Then we just have the standard routine motions there as well, as a form of reference.

The third piece of paper you should have is a notice of motion from Ms. Yelich.

We have a proposal right now to look at the routine motions adopted by the committee in the 38th Parliament. One of the recommendations--you can move that in a second--is that we adopt all of the first 12. So if you want to make that motion....

Does anyone want to have a discussion on that?

Mr. Lessard.

[Yves Lessard, Bloc, Chambly—Borduas, QC]

I will move the motion, Mr. Chairman. I'd also like to add something further.

I move that the procedural motions adopted be the same as those adopted for the 38th Parliament. Next, I'd like to move a motion that the staff persons accompanying us need not necessarily be from our office. These individuals could be party staff persons. This would ensure that we are accompanied by the appropriate person when working here in committee. In any case, I hereby move my motion respecting the resolutions adopted in connection with the 38th Parliament.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

We have a motion on the floor that we accept motions 1 to 12 of the 38th Parliament. Is there any discussion on that?

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

I thought Mr. Coderre proposed the first 12 of the standard routine motions. They're different from those of the 38th Parliament, so I'm not sure which ones he had in mind. There are a few differences, although they are minor.

[Denis Coderre, Liberal, Bourassa, QC]

I was supporting the ones from the 38th Parliament. I don't have an problem with them, frankly, when I read them all. We have to discuss the 13th one because it changed, but I think we should proceed with the first 12.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

So the motion we have on the floor from Mr. Coderre is on items 1 to 12. Do we have any more discussion on that?

Yes, Mr. Martin.

[Tony Martin, NDP, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Just on number 4, I want to make the chair aware, and those who weren't here in the last Parliament, that the subcommittee never actually met, and I hope that in this Parliament we will indeed meet and do the work that is expected of us.

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

Thank you.

Ms. Yelich.

[Lynne Yelich, Conservative, Blackstrap, SK]

That would be my question. What did it do and what will it do? I realize it's the agenda and procedure, but if you didn't meet and you weren't needed, what would then be the purpose of having it?

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

My thought would be that it would kind of act as a steering committee, as it has in other committees. We could do that. We'll make some recommendations that are going to have to be accepted by the group as a whole.

The motion on the table is that we accept motions 1 to 12, routine motions adopted by the committee in the 38th Parliament.

Is there any more discussion on that? All those in favour?

(Motions 1 to 12 inclusive agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Dean Allison]

That will move us to the 13th motion, which we need to discuss. I believe we also have a motion from Ms. Yelich.

Let's deal with motion 13. Is there any discussion on motion 13? Keeping in mind that motion 13 was based on the fact that the Conservative Party was in opposition, we would probably need to change the Conservatives and the Liberals around. Are there any comments on that?

Mr. Martin.

[Tony Martin, NDP, Sault Ste. Marie, ON]

Yes. In the last Parliament, we and the Bloc actually got some questions in the second round. I don't see us in the second round here. I think that's a mistake and we should do something to change it.