Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 13th, 2008

[Wajid Khan, Conservative, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

I'd like to say something to that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Mr. Khan.

[Wajid Khan, Conservative, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

Mr. Chair, if the questioning pertains to the important issues at hand, as was the case in the first hour when the minister was here, there will not be a whole lot of points of order, but if we start to go off track here and there, then the points of order will happen. So if we stay on the important subject and ask relevant questions, there will not be a problem. So let's try to do that for a change.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

On that point of order, Mr. Chair—

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

I think I have had Mr. Karygiannis' hand up for a while.

Then I'm going to go to Mr. Wilson and then back to Mr. Komarnicki, and then I'm shutting down this point.

Mr. Karygiannis.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Mr. Chair, in the House, if somebody rises on a point of order, the clock stops when somebody is speaking. We have seen today demonstration after demonstration of the Conservative members jumping up and down on points of order if they didn't like the line of questioning. The minister is here. This government wants to be accountable; this government wants to be transparent. So if the Conservative members do not like the line of questioning when the minister is here to answer, then they should jump around the corner and jump on a point of order there. They should not interrupt somebody on a point of order unless it's something substantial.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Okay. Well, we've already eaten up 10 minutes on this point of order, and I'll eat up whatever time you want me to and give Mr. Fadden a rest down there.

Mr. Wilson.

[Blair Wilson, Independent, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I can't believe the committee is still trying to figure out how to organize itself after 27 months of being elected here. It was previously agreed to by this committee, Mr. Chair, that if there were points of order during the testimony of the minister and these witnesses, they would be taken out of their own time. That was previously agreed to.

Now, we as a committee can decide whatever rules we want as a committee. That was previously agreed to. That's how you dealt with it before. If the committee wishes to change that and come up with some new rules, that's fine, but up until this point, the committee had previously agreed with the protocol that you have been following. You've done it perfectly well.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

I think you have that wrong, Mr. Wilson, because I don't recall that at all.

Mr. Komarnicki is next. And we will try to get back on track after you've made this submission.

[Ed Komarnicki, Conservative, Souris—Moose Mountain, SK]

I don't agree that that's the fact. But I want a ruling on the specific point that asking the department or a department official, or anyone, to get an editorial from some newspaper is not an appropriate request for information and it should not be allowed.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Mr. Chair, before you do that, I would just like to remind the parliamentary secretary that the department has a clipping section; clippings are done by the department and they're provided to the minister as well as to the parliamentary secretary. If an editorial is favourable, they sit there and wave at it. So if that editorial is favourable and it's right next to the page where they advertised, excuse me, but put your money where your mouth is.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Okay, I've heard enough on this. There's nothing in the rules, according to the clerk, that would allow me to rule one way or another on this. Whether or not it's an appropriate point of order we can't determine. I'm sure if Mr. Fadden cannot get the information that's been requested, that's just fine, because it's not covered in the rules.

Let's try to deal with the fact--

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

[Inaudible--Editor]

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

Mr. Karygiannis, would you please stop interrupting me when I'm speaking.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Do I have an additional two minutes?

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

This is what I'm trying to determine here from the committee.

Does the committee wish to follow that kind of procedure? We would add some time to the member who was interrupted by the points of order. We would stop the clock when a member is interrupted. Is this what we're going to do?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Norman Doyle]

That would give you, Mr. Karygiannis, a couple of minutes more. Please proceed.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Mr. Fadden, you do have a clipping section, and you look at mainstream media as well as ethnic media that you clip from and you translate for the minister if there's a contentious issue or something that should be brought to her attention. Am I correct, sir?

[Richard Fadden]

We certainly have a clipping section for the mainstream media. We do keep a watching brief on the ethnic media. We do not systematically translate everything.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

Well, you know what newspapers you advertised in. Was it the department that chose the newspapers you advertised in or was it Public Works?

[Richard Fadden]

It was the agent, sir.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

So you instructed the agent who to go after, or was it Public Works that was instructed?

[Richard Fadden]

It was Public Works.

[Jim Karygiannis, Liberal, Scarborough—Agincourt, ON]

So you asked Public Works, “These are the newspapers that we're going to go after”.