Evidence of meeting #4 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 39th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was five.
Conservative
Barry Devolin Conservative Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON
So seven minutes can be shared or it can be simply for one person.
Conservative
Barry Devolin Conservative Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON
Obviously, in the case of the NDP, if there's only one member, then they get that time.
Conservative
Barry Devolin Conservative Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON
So then is the second round five minutes, again, to each party?
Conservative
Barry Devolin Conservative Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON
Okay, it is until everyone has had the opportunity to ask a question. The NDP member will have an opportunity to ask a question in the first round. Then are they eliminated in the second round because they've already had a turn?
Liberal
Blair Wilson Liberal West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC
No, not the way this has been interpreted. We're letting everybody have an equal share of five minutes, five minutes, five minutes.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle
That's five minutes going to the Liberals, Conservatives, Bloc, and NDP, and then back again to the Conservatives, Liberals, Bloc, NDP, and so forth.
Liberal
Blair Wilson Liberal West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC
Again, there is in the first preamble “at the discretion of the chair”. If, for example, we only have twelve minutes to go, and we haven't gotten to the five-minute round, then it's up to the chair how to allocate that time.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle
Well, it's one to nothing.
That's dealt with. Where do we go from here?
We have a number of requests to appear before our committee. First of all, we can deal with what we do on Wednesday, May 17, which is coming up. Between 3:30 and 5:30, we'll have an overview with departmental officials. Then, at 5:30, we'll have the European Commission director general for freedom, justice, and security. He's coming to Ottawa for meetings with his counterparts and would like a meeting. The topic would be visa-free travel to Canada for citizens of the European Union. That will be our agenda for Wednesday.
Barry.
Conservative
Barry Devolin Conservative Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON
That looks like a three-hour meeting. I don't know if the overview of the department takes two hours or if some of it can be done at some other time, but is there some reason we have to add an hour onto that meeting, why we couldn't do a one-hour overview, followed by a one-hour meeting, and stay within our two-hour time limit?
I have an important dinner meeting.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle
Well, I'll have a word with the clerk here.
The overview would take much more than an hour. I think we'll have to go with the European Commission from 5:30 until 6:30.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Mr. Chair, on the 5:30 meeting, I wonder if it's possible for the analyst to do a bit of a report on the background issues.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle
It has been done and it will be circulated.
Does everyone have in front of them a copy of future business, the association people who requested to appear? Does the committee want to hear from these people, these organizations: SOS Viet-Phi, Falun Dafa, and the Auditor General?
On May 31 we could have SOS Viet-Phi for one hour, and the Falun Dafa Association for one hour the same day. The Auditor General says she can come in on June 19. Are there any problems with that or any discussion? Okay, so those are the three that we have here.
On June 7 we have the minister on his estimates, and on June 12 a briefing on the adoption bill by officials.
Bloc
Meili Faille Bloc Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC
Excuse me, Mr. Chairman, but could you speak a little more slowly? The interpreters are having trouble keeping up with you and we're having problems following along as you run down the items on the list.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle
Slowly? Me? I'm very slow.
Did everyone get what I said? I can bring along another interpreter.
Do you agree to the schedule so far?
Bill.
NDP
Bill Siksay NDP Burnaby—Douglas, BC
Is the adoption bill being referred to this committee, or is it going to a legislative committee? Do we know how that's going to be handled at this point?
Conservative
Conservative
Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Maybe you want to address that. I was thinking about that issue myself. It seemed to me the bill was filed today for first reading, and it's not in the House this week for second reading. And then, of course, we've got the week break, and it won't get up, obviously, until the following week. Certainly once it's up for second reading in debate it will get referred to this committee, and the committee will have the opportunity to go through it clause by clause.
I wondered if it wouldn't have been better to have the department here briefing us--and I'm not sure if the committee wanted to have witnesses or not--in advance of the bill going for second reading and coming to this committee, so we could have the briefing by the department and the witnesses, if you wanted to call any, while the bill is making its way to debate in the House and to this committee, so we will accomplish something towards the end of the session. It would mean the briefing by the department would need to take place sooner rather than later as we have it on the agenda here.
I was just looking at my calendar. May 22 to 25 is a break week, and then after that maybe there could be a briefing somewhere in there. I hadn't followed through the dates, but do you see where I'm going with that?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle
We have on June 5, I'm told, the Canadian Bar Association. Maybe that could be postponed, and we could have our briefing moved up a little bit further if you wish.
Conservative
Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK
Of course the Canadian Bar Association is the type of witness you may want to have, so what we might want to do is combine others with the Canadian Bar Association, and then do the briefing by department officials immediately following, like you have. And I was just looking at dates--
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle
Would you want to leave it with the clerk, and let the clerk work on some timeframes and get back to us on that?