International Trade Committee on May 17th, 2007

[Lui Temelkovski, Liberal, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

My question is, what is the difference between a motion and a report?

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

I'll let the clerk explain, but a motion passed isn't always reported to the House. In this case it was in the motion that it be reported to the House. But I'll let the clerk explain this and give a specific answer to your question.

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Normand Radford]

Mr. Chair, through you, the chair is correct in the sense that a motion is a statement, if you wish, adopted by the committee. A motion can be reported to the House if the committee so decides. In this instance, there was a provision in the motion of Mr. Cardin that the motion and preamble, I may add, as amended by Mr. Julian, be reported to the House. So the report, then, reflects the motion and it reflects the preamble, as amended.

[Lui Temelkovski, Liberal, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

The motion?

[The Clerk]

That's correct, and it is a report.

[Lui Temelkovski, Liberal, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

So a motion is a report?

[The Clerk]

If the committee so decides.

[Lui Temelkovski, Liberal, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

Okay. So when it makes a report, it's tabling it?

[The Clerk]

Correct, presenting it to the House.

[Lui Temelkovski, Liberal, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

Presenting it to the House. If it is not presented, then it is not a report, it's a motion?

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Mr. Temelkovski, the motion called for the preamble and the motion itself to be reported to the House. Therefore a report was prepared by the clerk accommodating that. So what I want to do is to ensure that this is reported to the House, but I have to meet the requirements determined by the committee just a few weeks ago, which is that we set a period of time that will be allowed to attach dissenting reports. If we can just quickly do that, we can get on to the witnesses.

Monsieur Cardin and then Mr. Cannan.

[Serge Cardin, Bloc, Sherbrooke, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I understand the distinction. The motion passed this week gave rise to a report being tabled in the House, and that was what we asked for. So, I fully agree that we are talking about a report; indeed, we are talking about the ninth report of the Committee.

I also recall that when the reports previously tabled were passed, we immediately decided how much time would be available for members to present dissenting reports. That was a point that was resolved as soon as the motion passed. I remember that quite clearly. So, it should be the same thing this time around. This week, we passed that motion and, technically speaking, members had 48 hours to table a report. The deadline for that has now passed.

I would like one clarification. Did you say a little earlier that you will be tabling the report tomorrow?

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

That depends on the committee and how much time the committee decides to allow for dissenting reports to be attached.

Mr. Cannan.

[Ron Cannan, Conservative, Kelowna—Lake Country, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Trying to move on with business—we have witnesses waiting—I'd like to move a motion that all parties have 48 hours to attach a dissenting report to any report presented to the House by this committee.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

The committee has heard the motion. Any discussion?

Mr. Julian, then Mr. Bains.

Mr. Julian.

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

I'd like to make a friendly amendment in the spirit of cooperation—

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Mr. Bains, I recognized Mr. Julian first.

Go ahead.

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

Well, Mr. Chair, it's simply not acceptable that if the Conservatives see a motion that they voted against come forward, they try to cut it up and throw in their particular political spin on it and additional material.

Very clearly, this ninth report says that this was a motion adopted by the committee. A motion is not subject to a dissident report. A motion is subject to how members vote on it. The Conservatives voted against it. You can question their political judgment, but that's fine. They voted against it. That's enough. They can't keep beating this dead horse and try to essentially diminish or water down the report by adding in an additional series of comments or an additional motion, or maybe it's a five-page report they want to table. It's absurd.

This is very clearly a motion coming from the committee. Dissenting reports are attached to committee reports. They're attached to long, and sometimes complex, material. They are not attached to motions for the simple reason that it can lead to a great deal of confusion.

So Mr. Cannan's motion simply is inappropriate.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Mr. Cannan's motion is completely in order, Mr. Julian.

I go now to Mr. Bains.

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

I'd like to make a friendly amendment to that motion, saying that because during this debate it was clear that the parties articulated their viewpoints, the Conservative Party went on record on numerous occasions, through various committee meetings that we held, to state their position, and I feel that that's on the record. Therefore, I feel that with this motion, the way it was intended, yes, it was supposed to be a motion. It got interpreted as a report, as per the language in the body of the motion originally, and hence I think the confusion today.

So my friendly amendment would be that we eliminate the 48-hour notice and that we present this committee report as soon as possible.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

I don't think there's any confusion. As you've said, it was clearly asked for in the motion.

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

Misinterpreted.

But that's my friendly amendment. We don't even—

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

The problem, Mr. Bains, with your motion is that it allows no time for a dissenting opinion to be tabled or attached to the report, and the motion that we decided just a few weeks ago clearly says there will be an opportunity to attach a dissenting report. So we can't prevent that from happening in a motion or in an amendment to a motion.

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

No, you raise a point, but I think there has been 48 hours since this committee passed this motion, since the motion was passed, to allow the opportunity for individuals to provide a dissenting report. It's an additional 48 hours that we're discussing now. Is that correct?

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Well, it's up to the committee to decide how long.