International Trade Committee on March 3rd, 2009

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

You still lost.

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

But by less.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

Thank you.

We're moving on to the next amendment. That would be amendment NDP-9.

Mr. Julian.

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

Mr. Chair, I will move amendments NDP-9 through NDP-12.

Unfortunately, nobody testifying before us feared the Swiss and Liechtenstein shipbuilding industries, so I think it's a little more difficult to put forward these amendments when clearly it's the Norwegian industry that is of concern.

You are going to try, Mr. Chair, to rule these amendments out of order as well.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

Move your amendment and leave the judgment to me.

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

In a real sense, Mr. Chair, these amendments subscribe to the shipbuilding carve-outs that the industry attested to, but if you rule it out of order, Mr. Chair, essentially what happens is they then become admissible and in order for third reading, so we will have these debates over these amendments just the same in the House, as you know.

If they're not considered at the committee stage and they are clearly within the scope of the bill, then what happens is they become eligible for committee stage reporting. We'll have this debate over these amendments again. I'm not sure what the government's strategy is on this, because by refusing to have the votes at committee stage, we then essentially defer the debate to committee stage in the House. That gives us additional time to discuss with our Liberal colleagues, of course, the possibility of shipbuilding being carved out of the agreement. So in a sense, Mr. Chair--

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

Okay. I think we've heard enough.

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

Well, we have 14 minutes left.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

But, Mr. Julian, you've moved the amendment and you're now getting into debate on an entirely unrelated matter.

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

Fair enough.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

I've heard it. You were very savvy in suggesting that the chair might rule as it ruled in the past, that in the opinion--

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

I think I saw this coming.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

Did you see that coming?

With regard to amendment NDP-9, in the opinion of the chair, the elimination of these provisions is at odds with the intent of EFTA and contrary to the principle of Bill C-2 and is therefore inadmissible. As a consequence of this ruling, the chair must also find that the following consequential amendments are inadmissible: NDP-10, NDP-11, NDP-12, NDP-13, NDP-14, NDP-15, and NDP-16.

Let me clarify that, because I did go beyond NDP-13. We hadn't moved amendments NDP-14, NDP-15, and NDP-16. Those are regarding the tariff schedule. If there is no amendment, then there is no point in moving to the schedule, so we'll just save a little time and rule them all inadmissible.

Mr. Julian.

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

Mr. Chair, with respect, I challenge your ruling.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

Mr. Julian is challenging the ruling.

On any particular one or on all of them, Mr. Julian?

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

They're within the scope of the bill.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

All right.

Mr. Julian is again challenging the chair with regard to the admissibility of his amendments. The chair has ruled that these amendments are inadmissible.

(Ruling of the chair sustained: yeas 8; nays 3)

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

We have no amendments to clause 33.

(Clause 33 agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

I have not received any further amendments until clause 38. Shall clauses 34 to 38 carry?

(Clauses 34 to 38 inclusive agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

Shall schedules 1 through 7 carry?

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

On division.

(Schedules 1 to 7 inclusive agreed to on division)

(On clause 1--Short title)

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

We're back to the top now, members.

Shall the short title carry?

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

On division.

(Clause 1 agreed to on division)

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

Shall the title carry?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.