Evidence of meeting #1 for Indigenous and Northern Affairs in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
From a precedential point of view, in the last committee we did have a third vice-chair. That was something we had agreed to as well.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bob Bratina
If I may, I had a very good conversation with Ms. Qaqqaq just yesterday, as a matter of fact. I wanted to assure her that we were quite willing to accommodate a third vice-chair, but unfortunately the question of the stipend is completely out of our hands. What I think we wanted to reassure Ms. Qaqqaq about was that she would have full participation in the committee work and, as Ms. Blaney suggested, would receive information that might otherwise not come without the chair being present.
Mrs. McLeod, do you have anything further that concerns you about this from the discussion?
Conservative
Cathy McLeod Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC
I certainly appreciate the comments made by my NDP colleague in terms of the importance of receiving information, and the advice of the clerk, who wanted to do a bit more research. I would like to see this happen in terms of having a recognition that Ms. Qaqqaq will receive the appropriate information, but I also don't think it's appropriate in this case to potentially violate the Standing Orders. Can we just leave it perhaps until the next meeting, by which time I presume we would have a definitive answer?
Then, if there are no changes that need to be made and if it's up to the committee to support it, I'd be very happy to vote at that time.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bob Bratina
Okay. What we'll do then is have the clerk delve into this further. We did some preliminary examination and felt that we were on safe ground, but if any further assurance is required, I don't think waiting for one meeting will impact negatively on the business of the committee. With the committee's permission, I as the chair will ask the clerk to confirm the situation regarding the election of a third vice-chair.
Is that okay, Mr. Clerk?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bob Bratina
Thank you.
With that I believe, Mr. Anandasangaree, we need to get the business of the routine motions out of the way. Are you prepared to move that?
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
I am, Mr. Chair. If you'll permit me, I'll read the routine motions from the beginning.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
I move, and this is the same as the one we adopted previously:
That the committee retain, as needed and at the discretion of the Chair, the services of one or more analysts from the Library of Parliament to assist it in its work.
That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be established and be composed of five members, namely the Chair and one member from each recognized party; and that the subcommittee work in a spirit of collaboration.
That the Chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive evidence and to have that evidence printed when a quorum is not present, provided that at least four members are present, including one member of the opposition and one member of the government, but when travelling outside the parliamentary precinct, that the meeting begin after 15 minutes, regardless of members present.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Excuse me. I'm sorry to interrupt. This may be a point of order; I'm not sure.
Mr. Chair, perhaps you could just advise me. There are some changes I would like to make to the routine motions and I'm wondering if you would like me to put forward amendments during or after.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bob Bratina
Let's let Mr. Anandasangaree go through the list and then we'll come back to that.
Liberal
Gary Anandasangaree Liberal Scarborough—Rouge Park, ON
The motions continue:
That witnesses be given ten minutes for their opening statement; that, at the discretion of the Chair, during the questioning of witnesses, there be allocated six minutes for the first questioner of each party as follows for the first round: Conservative Party, Liberal Party, Bloc Québécois, New Democratic Party; and that for the second and subsequent rounds, the order and time for questioning be as follows: Conservative Party, five minutes, Liberal Party, five minutes, Conservative Party, five minutes, Liberal Party, five minutes, Bloc Québécois, two and a half minutes, New Democratic Party, two and a half minutes.
That the clerk of the committee be authorized to distribute documents to members of the committee only when the documents are available in both official languages and that witnesses be advised accordingly.
That the clerk of the committee be authorized to make the necessary arrangements to provide working meals for the committee and its subcommittees.
That, if requested, reasonable travel, accommodation and living expenses be reimbursed to witnesses not exceeding two representatives per organization; provided that, in exceptional circumstances, payment for more representatives be made at the discretion of the Chair.
That, unless otherwise ordered, each committee member be allowed to have one staff member at an in camera meeting and that one additional person from each House officer's office be allowed to be present.
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 or by their staff.
That a 48 hours' notice, interpreted as two nights, shall be required for any substantive motion to be considered by the committee, unless the substantive motion relates directly to business then under consideration, provided that (a) the notice be filed with the clerk of the committee no later than 4:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday; (b) the motion be distributed to members in both official languages by the clerk on the same day the said notice was transmitted if it was received no later than the deadline hour; and (c) notices received after the deadline hour or on non-business days be deemed to have been received during the next business day and that when the committee is travelling on official business, no substantive motions may be moved.
That, in relation to Orders of Reference from the House respecting bills: (a) the clerk of the committee shall, upon the committee receiving such an Order of Reference, write to each member who is not a member of a caucus represented on the committee to invite those members to file with the clerk of the committee, in both official languages, any amendments to the bill, which is the subject of the said Order, which they would suggest that the committee consider; (b) suggested amendments filed, pursuant to paragraph (a), at least 48 hours prior to the start of clause-by-clause consideration of the bill to which the amendments relate shall be deemed to be proposed during the said consideration, provided that the committee may, by motion, vary this deadline in respect of a given bill; and (c) during the clause-by-clause consideration of a bill, the Chair shall allow a member who filed suggested amendments, pursuant to paragraph (a), an opportunity to make brief representations in support of them.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bob Bratina
That is the suite of routine motions.
Ms. Blaney, would you like to go ahead with your comments or amendments?
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Absolutely. Thank you, everyone. It's wonderful to be here with all of you today. I was on INAN for a couple of years with some of the members who are here today. It's always good to be back.
I have a couple of recommendations based, of course, on the decisions that PROC made. As the mother committee, I think it's important for us to have those discussions and reflect what that committee is doing.
The first part was in, I believe, the third section, regarding a meeting without a quorum. One of the changes would be where it says, “one member of the opposition and one member of the government”. Because we have a couple of opposition parties, we thought it would be more appropriate to have “two government members” and “two opposition members”.
That is one amendment that I am putting forward.
I don't know whether you would like me to put forward all of the amendments at once. I will do that if everyone is all right with that.
Conservative
Cathy McLeod Conservative Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo, BC
Mr. Chair, I have a point of order. Do you have the original document to recirculate?
I'm in our digital binder, and it's not there. It just helps when we're referencing sections that we have something to read as we go through them.
If it could be circulated, that would be helpful because I see it's not in the digital binder.
The Clerk
I can recirculate the routine motions from the previous session now, which I understand are identical to the motion just moved by Mr. Anandasangaree.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Yes. They were according to what I read.
The second part is around, I believe, the fourth section, which is with regard to time for opening remarks and questioning of witnesses. I am proposing two amendments.
One is to take the time that we're allowing witnesses to present from 10 minutes to five. This is what PROC did to make sure that people were very clear in their discussions. It would leave more time for questioning.
The second amendment is for the second round of questioning, which is currently Conservative, five; Liberal, five; Conservative, five; Liberal, five. Our recommendation—and this is what PROC has done and several other committees as well—is to change that to Conservative, five; Liberal, five; Bloc, two and half; NDP, two and half; Conservative, five; and Liberal, five.
Those are the amendments.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bob Bratina
Does anyone have any comments? I'm looking around the table.
Gary, does anything stand out for you?