Evidence of meeting #26 for International Trade in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was travel.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:10 a.m.
The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Normand Radford
Honourable members, I see a quorum.
We can now proceed to the election of the chair. I'm ready to receive motions to that effect.
You have the floor, Mr. Menzies.
9:10 a.m.
Conservative
Ted Menzies Conservative Macleod, AB
I would like to nominate Leon Benoit as chair of this committee.
9:10 a.m.
The Clerk
Mr. Menzies moves that Leon Benoit take the chair of this committee.
Are there any other motions?
Mr. Julian.
9:10 a.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
Surprisingly, I'd like to second that nomination. I think Mr. Benoit did a good job this summer, so I would like to second the nomination.
9:10 a.m.
The Clerk
Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
9:10 a.m.
The Clerk
I declare Mr. Benoit chair of the committee.
9:10 a.m.
Some hon. members
Hear, hear!
9:10 a.m.
The Clerk
The Standing Orders require that I proceed to the election of the vice-chairs.
There are two vice-chair positions. The first vice-chair is from the official opposition. Do I have a motion to that effect?
Mr. Cannan.
9:10 a.m.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
Thank you.
I'd like to nominate Lui Temelkovski as the vice-chair.
9:10 a.m.
The Clerk
Mr. Cannan moves that Mr. Lui Temelkovski become the vice-chair from the official opposition.
Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
9:10 a.m.
Some hon. members
Hear, hear!
9:10 a.m.
The Clerk
The second vice-chair position is a member from the other opposition.
Are there any motions to that effect?
9:10 a.m.
Bloc
9:10 a.m.
The Clerk
Mr. André moves that Mr. Serge Cardin be elected second vice-chair. Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
9:10 a.m.
The Clerk
I hereby declare Mr. Cardin elected second vice-chair.
Monsieur Benoit, may I invite you to take the chair.
9:10 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Leon Benoit
Good morning, everyone. I'd like to first of all thank you for your support for the chair and congratulate the vice-chairs.
We have a new member of the committee.
I'd just like to welcome you here, Serge. It's very good to see you here; I'm looking forward to working with you.
The rest of the members are the same, I think, so that's good.
I don't really think we have anything else to deal with here today as far as I know, other than if we could just have a meeting on Thursday to discuss future business. We could do that one of two ways. We could have a full committee first to discuss ideas for future business and then have the subcommittee finalize it, or we could have a subcommittee meeting to deal with future business. We can go either way. If we could have it at the allotted time on Thursday, that would probably be the best way to deal with it.
Mr. Julian, go ahead.
9:10 a.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
Perhaps Mr. André will agree with me.
We already do have an item of future business, and that is the softwood hearings that we've scheduled for Saguenay, Thunder Bay, and Vancouver, the motion that we adopted in August. That really is the first item of business. We know the bill is coming forward. If it passes second reading, it would come to this committee and we could presumably mesh the work of the bill and the hearings.
9:15 a.m.
Bloc
Guy André Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
I believe Peter Julian and I are on the same page. I think we could move immediately to consider future business, which will include among other things softwood lumber and Peter's motion.
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Leon Benoit
There is an issue of relevancy, but I'll allow the committee to talk about that. The agreement has been signed, and the implementation date is already known. We do have enacting legislation coming before the House. It seems to me that it's not a relevant motion any more, but it's up to the committee.
Mr. Cannan, go ahead, please.
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
As a newbie to the committee, I would just like to clarify something. Is there a process that has to take place between the time the motion comes to the committee and the point where the House leaders have to discuss it, as far as travel goes?
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Leon Benoit
For travel to happen, it has to be discussed by the liaison committee.
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Leon Benoit
It would have to be approved there. That's the next step in the process. If the committee wants me to take this to the liaison committee on its behalf, of course I'll do that. It's entirely up to you.
To tell you the truth, I'm kind of surprised that this issue is being brought here, because it doesn't seem relevant any more. However, if we are going to look at a motion to travel, if we're going to follow through on that, Mr. Julian, we'd certainly need enough information about exactly what we are looking at doing here, to take to the liaison committee. That would be the first thing.
So if you want to lay that out, we'll have some discussion on that.
I see Ms. Guergis. Go ahead, please.
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
Helena Guergis Conservative Simcoe—Grey, ON
Thanks very much.
I think that with the legislation now in the House, we should be changing gears. It's passed. We should be looking to the future and having a conversation on what the future of this agreement is going to look like in terms of the makeup of the binational council, and Canada's role in the meritorious issues. There are various other committees. In fact, even going through other briefings, I'm learning that there are other things in which we, as a committee, can play a very important role concerning the next steps for this agreement, and the steps to come even in seven to nine years.
I was hoping that maybe we could have some ministry officials actually come before us and give us a bit of an outline of where they're headed, and give us some advice about what we should be looking at. I'm also looking to our researchers. Perhaps in the past there's been a binational council of some other sort. Maybe they could give us some advice about its makeup and what their role was, so that we can decide what we think and give some advice to the government on that. I don't really think we should be travelling right now to talk about the past and what we've discussed in the past.
I think that our House leader does not agree with our travelling. It's my understanding that House leaders do all have to agree in order for our committee to travel. If I am wrong, someone can correct me, but I'm not in favour of travelling. I think the legislation is here, and we need to move forward and talk about the next steps in every way we can. I've also spoken with the minister and he's happy to come before us again as well. So maybe we could schedule the civil service to come to the next meeting to give us next steps and some advice. Maybe we could schedule some time for the researchers to give us some advice, in a work plan, in an outline of what they see as next steps when they look at it. Then maybe we could also have the minister come in and we can ask him some questions about the information and advice that have been given to us by the researchers and the civil service.