International Trade Committee on Nov. 1st, 2010

[Martha Hall Findlay, Liberal, Willowdale, ON]

I will just add that I would very much appreciate the reaction of whoever ends up in the second group not duplicating EU information but rather taking advantage of the opportunity to hear from people in a country that has relatively recently come from behind the Iron Curtain. Having lived in the Czech Republic for a year, I can tell you that the economics of those countries are quite different from those of England and Rome.

I actually think it would be really valuable for at least half of our group, given that we're all going to Strasbourg, to go to one of the former eastern European countries.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

Thanks.

Mr. Cannan, and Monsieur Laforest.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I will just echo the previous speaker's comments and just leave the status quo.... If we want to have a democratic vote or a show of hands and keep it the way it is, keep--

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

That certainly is a possibility as well, that we just don't change anything we have. We have the pedal to the metal. We think we can get most things accomplished. If at a later point we want to set up a conference call with bureaucrats from Brussels, we could do that too. That's certainly another point of view--not bad. We just don't change anything. We just don't go to Brussels. Keep it simple.

Monsieur Laforest.

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

I am all for maintaining the status quo. Each committee member is trying to determine which location to visit to derive maximum benefit. Initially, that is what we did also and it was determined that the best locations to visit were London, Strasbourg, because it is the seat of Parliament, Rome and Budapest. Again, I think this is a logical approach. Of course, there are some interesting things to see in Brussels and some parliamentarians to meet, but we had to make some choices. In my opinion, we made the right choices and we should stick with the status quo.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

Okay. I'm happy with that.

Do I get general consensus on that notion, that we stick to the status quo, with the groups as they previously have been laid out?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

Thank you very much.

We tried, Mr. Julian, but there again--

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. You've been very amenable.

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

Okay. That's it then. That's all the business I have for today.

I'm still struggling a little bit with Wednesday. We're going to start Bill C-46 on Wednesday. That would be Panama. Get ready for Panama on Wednesday. It's the whole meeting, as long as you want to take the department.... We'll have a briefing and you can ask questions.

Mr. Julian.

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

Will the briefing binder for Panama be available before Wednesday?

[The Chair, Conservative, Lee Richardson]

It's in translation. I think we won't get it until Wednesday. I'm sorry. That's kind of unfortunate.

The meeting is at 3:30 p.m. We'll have the books for the meeting, at the latest, but I'm sorry that we didn't get them in advance. We can't distribute them until they're distributed to everybody at the same time. I'm sorry that we didn't get them here sooner.

That'll be it for Wednesday. Thank you.

The meeting is adjourned.