Industry Committee on June 15th, 2011

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Jean Michel Roy]

My name is Jean Michel Roy. I am the clerk of the committee.

Honourable members of the committee, I see a quorum.

I must inform the members that the clerk of the committee can only receive motions for the election of the chair. The clerk cannot receive other types of motions and cannot entertain points of order nor participate in debate.

We can now proceed to the election of the chair. Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the chair must be a member of the government party.

I am now ready to receive motions for the election of the chair.

[Rob Anders, Conservative, Calgary West, AB]

I nominate David Sweet.

[The Clerk]

Are there any further motions? I see none.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Clerk]

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Sweet duly elected chair of the committee.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Clerk]

Before I invite Mr. Sweet to take the chair, if the committee is agreed, we will now proceed to the election of vice-chairs.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the first vice-chair must be a member of the official opposition.

I am now ready to receive motions for the election of the first vice-chair.

[David Sweet, Conservative, Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, ON]

I nominate Brian Masse.

[The Clerk]

Are there any further motions?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

[The Clerk]

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Masse duly elected first vice-chair of the committee.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Clerk]

Let's now proceed with the last election.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the second vice-chair must be a member of an opposition party other than the official opposition.

I am now ready to receive a motion for the election of the second vice-chair.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB]

I nominate Geoff Regan.

[The Clerk]

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Regan duly elected second vice-chair of the committee.

I now invite Mr. Sweet to take the chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Thank you, colleagues.

I trust that we will continue the great esprit de corps we had in the last session in getting work done for Canadians.

The next job is to deal with routine motions. Committees usually adopt a series of motions to deal with items of day-to-day business called routine motions. These motions may vary from one session of Parliament to the next. We will move to these motions right now and give you an opportunity for your input as well.

These, I believe, are the same as we had in the last session. Is that correct?

[The Clerk]

These are standard motions. They might be a little bit different from those adopted by the committee in the last Parliament. These are general motions presented to all committees.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Hearing from our clerk, what I'll do is go through these motions as models for us and then I'll leave it up to the members for any modifications, additions, or subtractions.

Let's move to the first one: 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.

It is moved by Mr. Masse.

(Motion agreed to)

The next motion is that the subcommittee on agenda and procedure be established and composed of the chair, the two vice-chairs, and...

Go ahead, Mr. Lake.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB]

There is maybe a little bit of length here, but bear with me. I'd like to move that the subcommittee on agenda and procedure be composed of five members, including the chair, the two vice-chairs, the parliamentary secretary, and a member of the Conservative Party; that a quorum of the subcommittee shall consist of at least three members; that each member of the subcommittee shall be permitted to have one assistant attend any meetings of the subcommittee on agenda and procedure; and that in addition, each party shall be permitted to have one staff member from a House officer attend any meetings.

I think you're probably familiar with the wording of the motion, as you've been through one already.

[Peter Julian, NDP, Burnaby—New Westminster, BC]

No, that's not how we've done it on other committees.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Go ahead, Mr. Regan.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Did he say that the quorum would be three?

I had better wait until Mike hears this.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

The quorum is three.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

The quorum is three, and you're proposing to have three members from the Conservatives on the subcommittee. That's problematic.

[An hon. member]

It looks bad.

[Mike Lake, Conservative, Edmonton—Mill Woods—Beaumont, AB]

Remember that the subcommittee doesn't actually do anything unless it's ratified by the main committee anyway.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Well, I know. This is why I wonder why you need five members.