Evidence of meeting #64 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 report.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
Navdeep Bains Liberal Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
No, I'm just saying, it's not that we are not saying—
11:20 a.m.
Conservative
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
Navdeep Bains Liberal Mississauga—Brampton South, ON
From now. I'm saying that time has already expired, and let's move on with this business.
11:20 a.m.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Just to clarify, any party or all parties have 48 hours to attach a dissenting report to any report to be presented to the House. So this is not only today, Mr. Bains, it's for the future so we don't have to waste time, so we can get some constructive productivity out of this committee instead of the jibber-jabber back and forth. Let's get on with it.
11:20 a.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
On a point of order, Mr. Chair, this is not in order. What this would require, if Mr. Cannan is trying to—
11:20 a.m.
Conservative
11:20 a.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
No, because it was referring specifically to this report, which is on the table for discussion.
It is out of order to not provide a notice of motion, if your intention, Mr. Cannan, is to raise this in consideration to all motions and all reports coming forward to this committee. Unfortunately, if your motion intends to deal with greater than the report before us, it's out of order.
11:20 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Leon Benoit
Mr. Julian, Mr. Cannan's motion is in order. This issue has been brought to the table and it is dealing with the issue that was on the agenda, in fact.
In debate on the motion, Mr. André.
11:20 a.m.
Bloc
Guy André Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
I don't know whether this is debate on the motion, Mr. Chairman. The motion was passed on Tuesday. Members who voted against the motion could have asked at the time to append a dissenting report, but they did not. That being the case, you should have tabled the motion at the first possible opportunity, yesterday or today. You did not do that, though.
I believe we should move forward as quickly as possible and table the motion. When this was discussed Tuesday, Conservative members did not ask to attach a dissenting report. That being the case, the motion is valid. We have to proceed with it, because the majority of Committee members voted in favour of the motion. Your role, Mr. Chairman, is to table the motion in the House.
11:20 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Leon Benoit
Monsieur André, the motion passed by this committee just a few weeks ago clearly says that anyone would have an opportunity to table a dissenting report and to attach it to the report going to the House. The opposition doesn't have to ask for that, nor does any member. This issue probably should have been dealt with at that time. There is nothing that says it has to be, but it would have been appropriate. It wasn't, so we are dealing with it now.
This motion that we have before us now, of course, wouldn't preclude another motion coming to deal with the motion that has already been passed by the committee and the report, which is ready to be tabled in the House. So certainly we can deal with that after.
On Mr. Cannan's motion, Monsieur Cardin, go ahead, please.
11:20 a.m.
Bloc
Serge Cardin Bloc Sherbrooke, QC
I have a question with respect to procedure. If members were given an opportunity to attach a dissenting report today, would it be possible to table the ninth report in the House tomorrow? A dissenting report or opinion is normally appended to the report.
11:20 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Leon Benoit
Monsieur Cardin, first of all, it is certainly related to the motion we're dealing with. That could still happen, because the motion that is before us now is talking about future reports.
Regarding this report, certainly the committee could determine to allow a lesser time, and that lesser time could accommodate this being tabled tomorrow. It is not precluded by passing this motion we have before us now, in my judgment.
Are we ready for the question on the motion?
Mr. Julian.
11:20 a.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
Mr. Chair, I simply disagree with your interpretation. This was not a constitutional amendment that we adopted a few weeks ago. We said that we would give an opportunity to discuss the possibilities around issues of distance. I completely disagree with this new attempt to stonewall the work of the committee.
Essentially we have a motion that was adopted. The Conservatives are on record, and we have very clearly expressed, on this side of the committee table, that we do not believe that a dissident report is in order. We very clearly said that.
We have tried to move motions repeatedly to simply allow this report, this motion to be tabled. So we've had the discussion around whether or not it's appropriate to have a dissidence motion around a committee motion. Most members of this committee do not believe that it is appropriate, and so we have had a proposal from Mr. Bains. We have had my proposal.
What we have to do is defeat this motion, very clearly. I don't believe it's in order, because Mr. Cannan has indicated that he believes it covers all motions and all reports, which would clearly not be in order. But if it is simply referring to this particular motion that we are bringing forward to the House, it might be in order.
If we defeat it, please allow the members of this committee to then put forward a motion that allows this motion to be tabled immediately in the House. I would suggest—and I will come back to this issue in a moment, once we defeat this motion—that the vice-chair, Mr. Cardin, should be the one tabling it in the House, because he originated the motion.
11:25 a.m.
Conservative
Dean Allison Conservative Niagara West—Glanbrook, ON
I once again point out to my honourable colleague that there was a request that this be reported back as a report. We have a motion before us indicating that we should have a dissidence report. We should deal with this motion and then be able to move forward on that basis.
I say once again, there is a difference between reporting this as a report and reporting it as a motion.
Just to clarify, for any future reports that we have going forward, I think it would be important that we consider Mr. Cannan's motion before us now.
11:25 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Leon Benoit
That is the motion we have before us now. Is the committee ready to vote on Mr. Cannan's motion?
Mr. Cannan, do you have a final comment?
11:25 a.m.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
I just had a chat with the clerk, and he recommended that since some reports could be 500 pages, the committee might want more than 48 hours to prepare a dissenting report, so it would just have 48 hours to attach a dissenting report to this report that is to be presented to the House.
11:25 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Leon Benoit
Maybe I'll just read the motion that we passed on February 27, just so it is clear:
On motion of Ted Menzies, it was agreed on division,—That any member of the Committee have the right to attach, as an annex, a dissenting opinion on any report to be presented to the House of Commons by the Committee within the conditions imposed by the Committee and in accordance with the Standing Orders of the House of Commons.
Of course the Standing Orders of the House of Commons allow dissenting opinions to be attached. It is up to the committee to set the length of the report and the time for members to attach that dissenting—or that report they want to attach to the main report.
Is the committee ready for the question? Mr.Cannan, do you want to repeat the motion just so it is perfectly clear?
11:25 a.m.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
That any member of the Committee may attach a dissenting opinion to this, and future, report(s) within 48 hours of the adoption of the report(s).
I guess it's the ninth report.
11:25 a.m.
Conservative
11:25 a.m.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
That's why it's changing. I just said that after discussing it with the clerk. He recommended that because of the fact that some reports could be 500 pages long and this committee might want to change—I could ask the clerk if we could have a standing motion, and in the future if we wanted to extend the time, I would rather go that way. But I'll ask the clerk, maybe, through you, Mr. Chair, if that would be better. Then we don't have to have this discussion every time we have to table a report. That's what I'm trying to do.
11:25 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Leon Benoit
Right. But your motion, Mr. Cannan, was a motion that would deal with all future reports and set that 48-hour timeline. So if we're going to amend that motion, we have to amend—
11:25 a.m.
Conservative
Ron Cannan Conservative Kelowna—Lake Country, BC
We could clarify through the clerk, Mr. Chair, if we can leave it the way I had it originally, and then in the future we can have a superseding motion if we want to have extended time rather than 48 hours. As I said, if we had a long, extensive report, we could agree upon giving a week or something to prepare it.