Evidence of meeting #15 for Citizenship and Immigration in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was estimates.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Clerk of the Committee  Mr. Andrew Chaplin

3:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle

We will call our meeting to order. We are public, of course, for the first part of our meeting.

There are two items on the agenda: first, a couple of motions by Mr. Karygiannis and Olivia Chow; and second, we have our budget for travel.

The first motion is by Mr. Karygiannis:

That, pursuant to Standing Orders 110(1) and 111(1), and the House of Commons' order of reference of February 14, 2008, the Committee call to appear the recently appointed members of the Immigration and Refugee Board, Berto Volpentesta and Dominique Setton-Lemar.

That's your motion, Mr. Karygiannis. Do you wish to comment on it?

3:30 p.m.

Liberal

Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON

Mr. Chair, this is a common motion. People get appointed, and I would like them to appear in front of us to give us their credentials and to tell us what makes them special to be on the IRB.

3:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle

Thank you.

Is there any further discussion on Mr. Karygiannis's motion before we call it?

Mr. St-Cyr.

3:30 p.m.

Bloc

Thierry St-Cyr Bloc Jeanne-Le Ber, QC

I have a suggestion. I don't know whether this has to be the subject of an amendment or whether it's implicit, but I'd like to have the CVs of these persons before their testimony. I don't know them personally, and the CVs would tell us their main economic and political involvements.

3:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle

You probably didn't get them yet, but the profiles have already been circulated to your offices. I'm sure you will get them very shortly, if you don't have them already. I know that some members have already received them.

Are there any further comments on this motion?

Mr. Telegdi.

March 5th, 2008 / 3:30 p.m.

Liberal

Andrew Telegdi Liberal Kitchener—Waterloo, ON

Maybe at the same time, the parliamentary secretary can inform us or get for us how many vacancies we still have, and how many have been filled.

Give us the numbers.

3:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle

Do you have a comment on that, Mr. Komarnicki?

3:30 p.m.

Liberal

Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON

Mr. Chair, can we deal with the motion?

3:30 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle

Yes, but this is part of it.

Mr. Komarnicki.

3:30 p.m.

Conservative

Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK

Yes, I would like to comment on that.

I'm not sure why Mr. Karygiannis necessarily wishes to have these people here. I guess he doesn't necessarily need to say why, and under the Standing Orders he's probably entitled to have them.

Having said that, we will certainly take the request made by Mr. Telegdi and see if we can get that information. After the motion is voted on, I would suggest that we perhaps also call the director general of operations at the IRB, who could possibly answer some questions on that directly. It's something we can talk about after the motion, I guess, because it does not directly affect the motion.

3:35 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle

Yes.

3:35 p.m.

Liberal

Jim Karygiannis Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON

Do you want to amend the motion to include the director of the IRB on the list?

3:35 p.m.

Conservative

Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK

Yes, I'll amend the motion to add the director general of operations.

3:35 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle

Okay, so the motion is amended.

Mr. Telegdi, on the amendment or the motion?

3:35 p.m.

Liberal

Andrew Telegdi Liberal Kitchener—Waterloo, ON

Just on that, I would like to get Mr. Ben Dolan to come forward as well. Mr. Ben Dolan used to be a researcher with our committee for many years. I happen to know that all the critics and the chair of the committee recommended his appointment. It would be good to see him back.

3:35 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle

Is that okay with you, Mr. Karygiannis?

3:35 p.m.

Conservative

Ed Komarnicki Conservative Souris—Moose Mountain, SK

I don't know anything about the individual, so I'm not sure I'd agree to that amendment.

3:35 p.m.

An hon. member

Is he with the IRB?

3:35 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle

Is it fair to say that we have had our discussion on this?

3:35 p.m.

An hon. member

Call the question.

3:35 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle

Are we ready for the question, the motion as amended?

3:35 p.m.

Bloc

Thierry St-Cyr Bloc Jeanne-Le Ber, QC

Could you read the amended motion?

3:35 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle

It would read:

That, pursuant to Standing Orders 110(1) and 111(1), and the House of Commons' order of reference of February 14, 2008, the Committee call to appear the recently appointed members of the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), Berto Volpentesta and Dominique Setton-Lemar; the Director General, Operations, of the Immigration and Refugee Board; and Mr. Ben Dolan.

(Motion as amended agreed to)

3:35 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Norman Doyle

The second motion is Ms. Chow's. She's not here, so we will just postpone it and move in camera for the travel budget.

3:35 p.m.

The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Andrew Chaplin

Could we suspend the committee until the paperwork gets here? It had to be approved by my....