Citizenship and Immigration Committee on May 23rd, 2013

[An hon. member]

No.

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

No, that's not what we agreed to.

Our original agreement was to have witnesses come in and for staff from the ministry to come in for the last half hour. That didn't work with witnesses, so we had staff in.

We agreed that if any of the parties have amendments they're going to make or wish to make to the budget, they will do so through their representatives at the finance committee. That's what we agreed to, not to submit amendments here to the clerk for her to forward to the committee. We agreed to have our individual representatives at the finance committee be our spokespersons for the amendments that we plan to put forward.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Just give me a minute.

Mr. Dykstra, you are right and the chair is wrong.

Your motion would be out of order, Mr. Lamoureux.

Ms. Sims.

[Jinny Sims, NDP, Newton—North Delta, BC]

I'm glad you ruled that way, because that was my memory.

My understanding is that...well, I know for a fact that the official opposition has made a concerted effort to make sure that elements that related to this committee would be separated from that legislation and debated separately, both in the House and here at the committee. The government used its majority to make sure that it could not happen.

Now we are here at this committee. The amendments we move here have no weight or anything, so the agreement we had was that each side could send whatever they wanted to their representatives.

Once again, we still would have preferred and would like to have had the elements that relate to immigration taken out of the budget bill, debated in the House and here separately, but we did not get that granted. As the government has a majority, they do happen to get their way.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

That's not a point of order.

On a point of order, Mr. Lamoureux.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Mr. Chairperson. If I may, I would like to know, then, if there is anything that would prevent....

I do have a motion that I would like to move. It doesn't take anything away from the budget itself, but I think it's important that at least the motion be provided to the finance committee, which will be dealing with the issue, or at least the Minister of Finance.

It's a very straightforward, simple motion: that we advise the Minister of Finance not to increase citizenship fees prior to the standing committee reviewing the issue.

I would ask if we could entertain—

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Someone might correct me, but I don't think we agreed to that.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Could I ask for unanimous consent of the committee, then, so that we could at least have that?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

Of course, you can ask for unanimous consent. If the members wish to proceed with that, we'll do that.

[An hon. member]

No.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

There appears to be no unanimous consent, Mr. Lamoureux.

Does anyone else have anything to say? We still have time to proceed with one question, perhaps.

Go ahead, Mr. Dykstra.

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

I just want to make sure that your letter, I don't know if I need to formalize that.... What's your letter going to say?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

The letter reads:

Dear Mr. Rajotte, On behalf of the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, I would like to thank you for your letter inviting our Committee to consider the subject matter of Bill C-60, An Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 21, 2013 and other measures, and more specifically the subject matter of clauses 167 to 168 and clauses 170 to 172 of the Bill. After careful consideration of your request, our Committee agreed on May 23, 2013 to undertake a study of the subject matter of the said clauses, and has met in this regard on May 23, 2013 in order to hear from officials from Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Their contribution to this study has been very valuable and informative. After hearing from the witnesses, and considering the provisions contained in clauses 167 to 168 and clauses 170 to 172, the Committee wishes to inform you that it has no amendments or recommendations to forward to the Standing Committee on Finance for its consideration. Thank you for the invitation to contribute to your deliberations and we wish your Committee a productive discussion during the clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-60.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

I'll ask for a recorded vote on that.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

A recorded vote? I just read a letter. That's nothing. It's not a vote.

Unless you want to authorize me to send that letter.... Is that what you want?

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

I don't need you to be authorized to send that letter. You're sending it, but I'm happy to authorize you to do that, if that's what you're asking for.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

I just don't necessarily agree with the content of the letter. I don't want the impression to be that it was unanimous.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

All right, it's been moved by Mr. Dykstra that I send the letter I just read.

Is there any debate?

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

No, but I'd ask for a recorded vote, please.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

There's no debate.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Sure, I'll debate it.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

All those in favour, Madam Clerk.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

We only have a couple of minutes.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Tilson]

We're going to have a vote and then I'm going to adjourn the meeting.

[Kevin Lamoureux, Liberal, Winnipeg North, MB]

Sure, we'll have a recorded vote then, please.