Industry Committee on June 1st, 2006

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

I'd like to call this meeting to order. This is a special meeting. We regularly meet from eleven to one. We are meeting from eleven to one on the manufacturing sector, but we are here from ten until eleven to consider the motion of Mr. Holland.

At this point I'll have Mr. Holland read the motion. Then he can have up to five minutes to present the rationale for it. Then I think it would be a good idea to have at least one member from every party speak to it. Of course, all members are free to speak to it, but let's try to complete the motion within an hour.

Mr. Fontana is next, on a point of order.

[Joe Fontana, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

I promise I won't challenge the chair this morning.

In terms of process, when you say that Mr. Holland will be reading the motion, just so it's clear to everybody, are we talking about the original motion or the amended motion we'll be discussing? As you know, we got into this discussion as to whether or not the original motion was an amendment, and then there was a substitution. So do you want to proceed on the basis of the original motion that was given, the 48-hour notice, or the amendment to that motion that seemed to have received some favour?

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thanks, Mr. Fontana. My understanding and the clerk's understanding is that the new motion submitted by Mr. Holland is not the first motion. If Mr. Holland wants to clarify that, he certainly can.

Mr. Holland, it might be better for you to read the motion and present the rationale for it.

Mr. Masse.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

If that is the case, does it have the time amendments? The body of the motion was taken from my subamendment. I also have an amendment to this motion that I've yet to see distributed. It was sent to the clerk on Tuesday.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

The clerk advises me that you can present the amendment after Mr. Holland moves the motion.

Mr. Holland, you have the floor.

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

The motion reads:

That the Minister of Industry delay closing the Investment Canada Review of the Xstrata/Falconbridge merger proposal until after all international regulatory bodies have ruled regarding the Inco/Falconbridge merger proposal.

I have spoken to this already and we've spent a considerable amount of time on it. I'm interested in hearing what other members have to say. The intent is simply to ensure that there is a level regulatory playing field and allow the market to be the one that, at the end of the day, decides which is the better deal, ensuring that no one has an unfair advantage in the process.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Thank you, Mr. Holland. That's very concise.

Mr. Masse.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm obviously in favour of the motion. This was originally submitted in the previous motion we had. It had a lot of detail on Xstrata and a whole series of other issues. This was the subamendment to that motion, letter for letter. It gets at the heart of the problem, which is very important, that foreign regulatory processes are interfering on a Canadian process here. That isn't good for shareholders and/or the people of this country, hence this motion provides some sense of fairness for the market.

I would also like to have a statement from this committee. I have a subamendment to this main motion, which I believe would help, to add at the end of the proposal “and that the committee report back to the House of Commons”.

This officially finishes the process so that this committee can advise the minister on a very important subject matter. It provides the minister with a flexible, reasoned position. The committee will go on record in the House of Commons with our expression, which I think the minister would agree to, that we just report back there, as opposed to just in these confines here.

I believe it's a friendly amendment that is procedurally done on a regular basis, as we do report back to the House of Commons when committees have statements and motions.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Mr. Carrie.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

First of all, I think there's agreement around the table as to what the intent is. As you say, it is to have a level playing field, to make sure it's fair.

With the wording you originally proposed, the minister has to work under the Investment Canada Act, and with that wording, it asks him to do something he can't do under that act.

What I am proposing is that we change the wording slightly. I've given Mr. Holland a copy of my proposed wording, and I'll read it out.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Are you proposing an amendment as well?

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Mr. Holland, on a point of order.

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

We had one amendment on the floor. Are we dealing with that amendment first, or are we going to...? Now we're going to have two amendments on the table. Should we deal with the first amendment first?

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Good point, Mr. Holland.

Mr. Carrie, do you have comments with respect to Mr. Masse's amendment? I'd like to deal with that first.

[Colin Carrie, Conservative, Oshawa, ON]

Okay, let's deal with that first.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Mr. Fontana.

[Joe Fontana, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

A point of order, Mr. Chairman. I thought you indicated that Mr. Holland was going to put forward the motion and that everybody was going to have an opportunity to speak to the motion in terms of where they're coming from.

I didn't hear Mr. Masse put his amendment forward just yet. Some of us might have some technical questions about it, so why don't we get a sense of where everybody is coming from before we start to get into amendments? I heard from Mark and Colin; I'm sure the Bloc would want to respond, and André perhaps. I think we'll all be confused.

In fact, there may very well be a meeting of the minds, but let's see where everybody is coming from before everybody starts putting in all kinds of amendments; we could be here until tomorrow morning discussing this.

[An hon. member]

That sounds great to me.

[Joe Fontana, Liberal, London North Centre, ON]

Perhaps everybody could just stand back for a moment and see where everybody is at.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

That was my suggestion as the chair.

Mr. Masse was fully within his rights in giving his point of view and his party's point of view on the main motion--to submit an amendment. He has a right to do that.

I'll ask Mr. Masse if we can follow the procedure that Mr. Fontana and I suggested.

[Brian Masse, NDP, Windsor West, ON]

I was only following the advice of the clerk. We had submitted this amendment on Tuesday, and today it hasn't been distributed.

Yes, of course--I originally proposed this motion; I support it. Things haven't changed for me.

I'm just suggesting a minor amendment to the motion, which we can talk about later. It's not a problem.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

My preference is that we get a general sense of where people are coming from. Then we'll deal with Mr. Masse's amendment. Then I believe Mr. Carrie has an amendment. We'll deal with the two amendments, and then we'll deal with the amended or unamended main motion.

Mr. Bonin.

[Raymond Bonin, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Mr. Chair, I'm not a member of this committee, but I'm the MP representing the communities affected by this, and I seek your permission to speak, if you would allow me.

[The Chair, Conservative, James Rajotte]

Absolutely. At this point, any member who wants to speak on the topic of the main motion shall be allowed to speak, and I think you have every right to speak.