Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Feb. 3rd, 2009

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

To clarify this, Mr. Bevilacqua makes a good point.

The intent of this.... If you recall the committee hearings under the previous Parliament—and I certainly do at the finance committee, where we had a number of occasions when the committee was actually split up and went to different areas of the country. And the difficulty that we had, certainly at the finance committee, was that we didn't have enough people. We only had a couple of members of Parliament sitting at the table, and the witnesses who had come either from across the province or across the country to that particular hearing were unable to present because of the fact that the committee was split up and there weren't enough members sitting at the table to be able to proceed.

The purpose of this is to make sure that while there may be less than a reduced quorum at the table, at least all of the witnesses' presentations will be heard by a couple of folks and, obviously, also be read into Hansard and therefore become part of the committee's work.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Monsieur St-Cyr.

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

Mr. Chair, Mr. Dykstra is right. Motions like this have already been made—certainly at this committee—except that we were travelling at the time. So instead of saying ”outside the parliamentary precinct“, it would say “when travelling across Canada from such-and-such a date to such-and-such a date“, and we fill in the blanks. So if the committee was going on the road and Mr. Dykstra made a motion like that, I would support him with no problem. But I do not think it is helpful to pass such a generic motion.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

I am certainly prepared to accept the amendment around the--

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Why don't you just change your motion, Mr. Dykstra?

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

It would read “that when the committee is on official business and will be travelling outside of Ottawa”.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Debate?

Monsieur St-Cyr.

[Thierry St-Cyr, Bloc, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

Can we not just wait until we are travelling? We would pass this motion before we left. That is what we normally do. Generally, when we travel—and we do not know whether we are going to—we pass a whole series of motions, that we will not pass substantive motions, for example, or what the quorum will be, or where we will be going. I do not see how it helps to pass it now.

My comment to Mr. Dykstra is that, if we travel, we will make proposals that reflect the exact dates and places, and I will support it with no problem. But, at this point, I do not see that we need to pass so generic a motion when we may not be travelling.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

No, I hold that the motion is in order.

Is there further debate?

(Motion negatived)

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Are there further motions?

Mr. Dykstra.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

Further, I move that one copy of the transcript of each in camera meeting be kept in the committee clerk's office for consultation by members of the committee.

[An hon. member]

Can you repeat it again?

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

That one copy of the transcript of each in camera meeting be kept in the committee clerk's office for consultation by members of the committee.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

It's on this form. I think we voted on it.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

Fair enough, thank you. I'm reinforcing how important that is, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Indeed.

Are there further motions?

Ms. Chow.

[Olivia Chow, NDP, Trinity—Spadina, ON]

I don't know whether that has been moved. Are the main and supplementary estimates already in there? I don't see that.

I move that whenever the main estimates or the supplementary estimates are tabled in the House, the committee invite the minister and appropriate senior officials to appear at a televised meeting of the committee. It's standard practice, but I just want to state it.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Are there further motions?

Mr. Dykstra.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

I move that when the chair and the vice-chairs are unable to act in that capacity at or during a meeting of the committee, the chair shall designate a member of the committee to act as chair at or during the said meeting, and such an acting chair shall be vested with all the powers of the chair at or during the said meeting.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Is there debate?

Mr. Karygiannis.

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

Mr. Chair, we do have a chair and two vice-chairs. I'm not sure if this is required.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

This is only required if the chair and the vice-chairs are actually unable to act.

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

Well, if they're not, then we'll wait until the next meeting.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

Well, then I guess we'll vote against the motion.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Is there further debate?

Monsieur St-Cyr.