Evidence of meeting #1 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 40th 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.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Marc Garneau Liberal Westmount—Ville-Marie, QC
So if we understand correctly, the independent would go to the end of block three.
4:25 p.m.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
No, block two. This is the only committee he sits on, so if he's going to be sitting on the committee, he has to have the right to ask questions. You have to give the independent a chance to ask questions.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Anthony Rota Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
I think you guys were really generous the last time I sat on the committee in letting him get on. I think you'll take care of him.
4:25 p.m.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
But I think he needs to be at the end of round two. Everybody should get a chance. If you're going to sit for two hours, everybody should get a chance to ask questions. It's a fundamental principle of committee.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Anthony Rota Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
I think with the nature of Parliament, with independents, I don't particularly agree with you.
4:30 p.m.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
You know if it were a Conservative member he'd be getting a round of questions.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Anthony Rota Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
He is a Conservative member, for all intents and purposes.
4:30 p.m.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
No, he's not. He's a member of the committee. He's one of twelve members of the committee, like you, or like me, or like anybody else on the committee. When he's here, he should get a round of questions.
I don't mind moving him to the end of round two.
4:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Perhaps I could try to ease this logjam here.
I think maybe part of the confusion is that we don't have full attendance at committee today. The fifth member, the independent member, is not here today. He would not substitute in for one of our Conservative members right now. I just give that to the committee as a point of fact. If you're looking at the table right now, you might think that the independent is substituting in for one of the four members here.
Mr. Simms.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
4:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
If he were here, the four Conservative members on the committee would be here as well.
In other words, I think what was originally behind the first two rounds of questioning was the simple idea that every member of this committee should have their own slot so that they can ask witnesses questions. As the first two rounds are proposed by Mr. Rota, everyone on the committee would get a chance to ask questions except for one member.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Anthony Rota Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
We're prepared to leave it the way it was and leave maybe seven minutes at the beginning, or make it seven minutes for the first round and leave it the way it was proposed originally before any amendments were made.
4:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Mr. Rota, for the benefit of the committee, could you go through the rounds as you're proposing them?
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Anthony Rota Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
Certainly.
Basically, if you look at what was originally written, the only change would be in round one.
4:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
We have so many different copies of what's happened here. If you could read the rounds and the timing per round, that would be beneficial.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
Anthony Rota Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
Okay. Very good.
This is the one that came with the binder from the clerk's office: round one would be changed from six to seven minutes, and then it would be Liberal, Bloc, Conservative, and New Democratic Party; round two would be Liberal Party, Conservative Party, Bloc Québécois, Conservative Party, and New Democratic Party; round three would be Liberal Party, Conservative Party, Liberal Party, and independent MP; and round four would be Conservative Party, Bloc Québécois, Liberal Party, and New Democratic Party.
4:30 p.m.
Conservative
4:30 p.m.
NDP
Glenn Thibeault NDP Sudbury, ON
I wouldn't be in favour of this one. If you're looking at what the discussions were about earlier, it's moving us from the opportunity of having those questions earlier.
My suggestion would be that if the independent member is here, I would go back to the initial proposal by Mr. Lake, and round two is what I'm talking about here. I want some clarification on round two. Liberal, Conservative, Bloc, Conservative, New Democrat, Liberal, Conservative, and independent: is that what was proposed?
4:30 p.m.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
Yes, with just one exception: Independent was bumped up two spots. But there's the same number of speaking spots for each one. Independent wasn't last, though; it would be before the last Liberal spot. I'll read it out to get it right: Liberal, Conservative, Bloc, Conservative, NDP, independent, Liberal, and Conservative.
The rationale here is that as much as I respect the independent's right to speak at the committee, I think there's a huge advantage to having the cleanup spot at the end. I don't believe he should be in that spot. That is the rationale behind the change.
4:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Just to clarify, we're on the discussion of the round as proposed by Mr. Rota.
Mr. Bouchard.
4:30 p.m.
Bloc
Robert Bouchard Bloc Chicoutimi—Le Fjord, QC
Earlier, my Liberal colleague, Mr. Simmons, mentioned making a motion on each round. It seems to me that it would be simpler if we agreed on round 1, round 2, round 3, rather than having one overall motion.
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Mr. Bouchard, thank you very much.
Is there agreement from the committee to proceed on this motion on a round-by-round basis? I don't see agreement here to do that from some members of the committee.
To go back to the discussion of Mr. Rota's proposal, is there any further discussion on his proposed order of questioning?
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
Mike Lake Conservative Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB
Are we talking about Mr. Rota's motion right now?
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Yes. We have a motion in front of us for the allocation of time for questioning.
