International Trade Committee on Nov. 22nd, 2007

[Larry Miller, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

I just want to say--

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

I love you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

Mr. Miller.

[Larry Miller, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

Mr. Chairman, it's very important. This is not a normal practice by any committee. It's not normal. Only in Mr. Julian's....

As John said earlier, this is about negotiating. I think we've come very close. When this motion or this amendment is passed, as a voice of good faith, I would support Mr. Dhaliwal's motion to issue a press release.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

Monsieur Laforest, do you want to comment?

[Jean-Yves Laforest, Bloc, Saint-Maurice—Champlain, QC]

I'm fine, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

I think we're pretty clear on the issue. We have an amendment, as read by the clerk, on the floor.

(Amendment agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

We are now moving back to the original motion. I don't know if there's any need for further debate on the motion as originally moved, so I'll simply call the question.

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

Can you read it, please?

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

It's essentially exactly the same as the amendment we just passed, but go ahead.

[The Clerk]

The motion as amended would read:

That the Standing Committee on International Trade conduct extensive hearings on the implications of the Canada–Korea bilateral agreement currently being negotiated, specifically hearing testimony from a wide variety of sectors and diverse regions of Canada, and that the committee investigate alternative ways to build and strengthen Canada's trade relationship with Korea, and that once completed, the committee report this study to the House.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

I'll call the question on the motion.

(Motion as amended agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

Yes, Mr. Julian.

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

On a point of order, at Tuesday's meeting I will be bringing forward my notice of motion on the Canada–Colombia trade agreement.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

Thank you.

Having dealt expeditiously with that, we have another item on the agenda, and that is the study of Canada's trade relations with key foreign markets.

Just before we do that, there was one other point with regard to our future meetings, and that was whether you wanted to hear from the minister. I asked through the parliamentary secretary to get an indication, and he said he would be pleased to do that on estimates. In terms of the schedule, it appeared there is maybe one day available.

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

My understanding was, from the last discussion, we just wanted clarification on the deadline as to the latest possible date we can invite--

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

I think the clerk has looked into that as well.

[The Clerk]

The supply period ends December 10, but the rules say the committee has to report, or only has until three days prior to the designation of the final allotted day to consider the estimates, so whenever the government designates the final supply day, the committee has to backtrack three days and you have--

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

Has it happened yet?

[The Clerk]

It hasn't been designated as of now.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

Just to save further discussion, can I just say to you that from the minister's schedule, from what the clerk has said, as for where the government is, it appears if we want to hear it, it would be Tuesday, December 4. So if it's the view of the committee that they would like to have the minister for estimates, it sounds as if that's about the only day we're going to get.

[Brian Pallister, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

That's not an accurate representation. The minister will accommodate the committee as best he possibly can, and if that date is deemed not appropriate, we'll try for another date. Whatever the committee wants.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

I appreciate that, but it just seemed to me that things were locked in that were just not changeable, and if we were going to get it in under the deadline, that would be the most favourable date. I didn't mean to put it in a negative light. He's trying to accommodate the committee and that seemed to be the best way we could meet that compromise.

Mr. Maloney.

[John Maloney, Liberal, Welland, ON]

I would assume we want to hear from the minister on this report on the Canada-Korea free trade agreement. Is there any possible way to allot sufficient time by the minister to combine the estimates with the kickoff of this committee report? We don't want him to rush in here and say he's got to be out of here in an hour.

[Brian Pallister, Conservative, Portage—Lisgar, MB]

He's a pretty accommodating minister, I think you'd agree, so we'll---