Citizenship and Immigration Committee on Nov. 15th, 2010

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

Oh, okay.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Amendment L-1 is gone.

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

Okay. I will then move the motion, minus paragraph (c)--

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Go ahead, Madam.

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

This basically allowed the minister, by regulation, to “revoke a designation of a body”. I will delete paragraph (c). Now the amendment will be replacing lines 16 to 20 on page 2 with the following....

Are we on the same page?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Just give me a second.

You're moving the first two paragraphs?

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

That's right.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

You're not moving the next one.

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

No, because “public interest” could mean any number of things.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

So that's out.

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

Yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

So you're moving paragraphs (a) and (b).

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

That's right.

[Justin Trudeau, Liberal, Papineau, QC]

We're dropping the “or”, I'm assuming, as well?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Yes, we're dropping the “or”. Thank you, Mr. Trudeau.

Now I think I'm okay. I understand what you've done.

Go ahead. Is there debate?

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

Do people need me to go into the details?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

No.

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

I think people understand.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

No, they're all clear.

I'm sorry, if you wish to--

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

No.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Mr. Dykstra has some comments. We'll see what he has to say.

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

We would be prepared to support this amendment if Ms. Chow would agree to the subamendments that follow. The motion would actually read as follows:

(5) The Minister may, by regulation, designate a body whose members in good standing may represent or advise a person for consideration--or offer to do so--in connection with a proceeding or application under this Act.

And then:

(5.1) For greater certainty, subsection (5) authorizes the Minister to revoke, by regulation, a designation made under that subsection.

I think that more clearly gets at the intent of Ms. Chow's amendment.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

I'm advised that we have copies, which we will distribute.

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

I'm sorry. I thought you had them already.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

No, they don't, so we'll just pause for a second.