Citizenship and Immigration Committee on June 23rd, 2011

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

The only one other thing that Mr. Weston has pointed out to me is that I want to make sure that in the first paragraph, where it says “when there are three or more witnesses, each witness...”, it probably should read “each organization shall be allowed eight minutes”.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

I am going to repeat what I have said before. Generally speaking, I am going to do whatever I can to try to only have three witnesses. It just hasn't worked in any of the committees when we have had more than three. It just doesn't work.

The only other issue that we haven't allowed for is that it's possible we could go two hours. It doesn't happen very often, but it's possible. Again, I repeat, hopefully the committee would give the chair a certain amount of flexibility to try to be fair, unless you want to put that in here now.

Ms. Sitsabaiesan.

[Rathika Sitsabaiesan, NDP, Scarborough—Rouge River, ON]

It may be because I haven't read my entire green book on procedures yet--

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

Let me know when you do.

[Rathika Sitsabaiesan, NDP, Scarborough—Rouge River, ON]

Okay, I will.

My question, Mr. Dykstra, is do witnesses have to be affiliated to an organization to make that amendment? Can we have independent witnesses who are not affiliated with an organization?

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

Yes.

[Rathika Sitsabaiesan, NDP, Scarborough—Rouge River, ON]

Then the amendment you made may not make sense, because it says when we have three or four witnesses “each organization shall be allowed”. I'm looking for clarification.

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

Individual witnesses wouldn't be coming with two people but would be on their own, so that would fall under the eight-minute category. The difficulty we have is with organizations that want to bring three people to the table. Generally speaking, one witness doesn't bring three people to the table, but an organization might.

I think that is addressed.

[Rathika Sitsabaiesan, NDP, Scarborough—Rouge River, ON]

Okay, I just wanted to make sure it was fair to individual witnesses.

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

Yes, it is, for sure.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

You're at 15 minutes, Mr. Davies. You're the last speaker.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I just want to be clear about this. Is there a proposal to amend the words “each witness” to “each organization?”

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

Yes.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

To be clear, the organization itself has eight minutes and it can split it between its people however they want.

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

Yes, they can have five people up here if they want.

[John Weston, Conservative, West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC]

Despite the withering look I got from the chair, I'm thinking not just about the functioning of our committee but really about the witnesses who may be coming from a long distance. I would just ask our clerk to make sure they understand the limit on time if they are coming from a far distance or they're putting themselves out, to make sure they understand how much time they have in total. Otherwise they might be disappointed.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Our clerk is excellent at doing that.

(Motion as amended agreed to) [See Minutes of Proceedings]

Mr. Dykstra, motion number 5.

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

I move that only the clerk of the committee be authorized to distribute to the members of the committee any documents, including motions; that all documents that have to be distributed among committee members must be in both official languages; and that the clerk shall advise all witnesses appearing before the committee of this requirement.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

The heading is “Distribution of Documents”.

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

Yes, thank you.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Mr. Dykstra, number 6.

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

This is on working meals: that the committee hereby authorize the clerk of the committee, in consultation with the chair, to make the necessary arrangements to provide for working meals as may be required, and that the cost of those meals be charged to the committee budget.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Item number 7.

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

This is for witnesses' expenses: that, if requested, reasonable travel, accommodation, and living expenses be reimbursed to witnesses not exceeding two representatives per organization, and that in exceptional circumstance payment for more representatives be made at the discretion of the chair.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Number 8, Mr. Dykstra.