International Trade Committee on Feb. 4th, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

My sense is that the first day, because some of us are new, we should get them to give us a snapshot of Canada and the world. That's my take on it. From that, we can pull where we feel there is a sense of urgency, and they'll tell us where the hot spots are.

The parliamentary secretary has asked to make a few comments. Is everybody agreed that he do that?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Go ahead.

[David Lametti, Liberal, LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, QC]

Thank you for allowing me to speak. I just want to say that if you haven't already done so, you should read the minister's mandate letter, which has been made public. There's a lot on the agenda that's been set out in that letter, and I think it's worthwhile for you to be asking the ministry officials for briefings on all of those things. There's a lot happening in trade, and I think it's worth it for us as a committee to really ask a lot of questions of those officials and to really take those briefings seriously.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

We have read the mandate, and everybody can get a copy of the mandate letter, which is nice to see.

I think there's a misunderstanding that we're just going to have one meeting. All I'm saying is that you have your one overall briefing on the Tuesday. It's a full meeting, so give it the full two hours. You may want to do another one. Again, it doesn't prevent you from having other briefings. In fact, you can have briefings in the evening from the department. The parliamentary secretary can put on briefings, if he so chooses. That option is there.

All I'm saying is that one of the first of maybe many meetings on the TPP.... You may find that there are six meetings and then say that we need nine meetings. I'm not necessarily putting an end to that. I'm just saying let's get started.

The clerks can coordinate things. They have two weeks to get witnesses here basically, so they can coordinate the witnesses for that first meeting. The witnesses could be people from Ottawa, from the department, who are going to brief us specifically on the TPP. That's fair. At least we can go back to our constituents and say we've started the study and we're moving forward.

It doesn't preclude us from doing other things, so don't think that this is just the one meeting. All I'm trying to do is help him coordinate the clerks so they have work to do during the break week to get that lined up. You can get your witness lists in to him too.

It sounds like we're going to do the study on the TPP. I think everybody is in agreement on that, so that's one thing we have consent on. Let's move forward, just make the start and see where it goes from there.

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Do you have some final comments, Mr. Dhaliwal?

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

As Mr. Hoback said, on the Thursday witnesses don't necessarily have to be out of town; they can be officials. However, it was a good point that MP Ramsey brought forward that we might need.... As the parliamentary secretary said, if we look at the mandate letter of the minister, there are hundreds of things that we can do. There's a full agenda there.

On Thursday, it's a better suggestion that we bring in the witnesses from the department. They can update us so that members who don't have access to all of that information will have it, and then that's part of the study and we've already started it. We're going around and around, so let me—

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Am I clear that what you're thinking is that Tuesday we're talking about all agreements of the whole world. But Thursday, we go right into TPP with officials—just on TPP.

Is that what I understand?

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

That's what it is.

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

I think we have a bit of agreement here.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

The agreement is this, if I can say it now. On Tuesday, they come in and tell us about everything but the TPP. On Thursday—because there's agreement in this room that we are going to study the TPP as the first order of business in this committee—we bring in the officials just to talk about the TPP. The TPP is not a 15-minute talk. They will go through the whole meeting to brief us on the TPP.

It's very fair to the NDP and to members here.

Is that agreed? Okay, the two meetings are done.

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Mr. Van Kesteren.

[Dave Van Kesteren, Conservative, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, ON]

The other thing that I would add—some of us have been here for a little longer and some of us are new—is that the clerks do a marvellous job. Once we give them our suggestions for witnesses, they have a way of bringing that about, so there's continuity there.

It makes sense. I think that this is a good approach, and I think we'll all be very pleased. I think it's a very good suggestion that we first of all are properly briefed by the officials and then go on to the witnesses. It will all make sense.

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Is there any other business today?

There's a suggestion from the clerk. We have the analysts here. They're a part of our team.

Mr. Hoback.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

I just have a question.

Do you want us to submit a few witnesses?

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

I think that any time you want to get your witnesses in for TPP, start getting them in, because this is moving progress.

Welcome aboard. Will you introduce yourselves, please?

[Alexandre Gauthier, Committee Researcher]

Good morning. I am Alexandre Gauthier.

I've been assigned to this committee for the last six years. Before that I worked for the government on trade files. Before that, I studied international relations and international management in Montreal and in the U.S.

[Simon Richards, Committee Researcher]

My name is Simon Richards. It's my first time working for a parliamentary committee.

[A voice]

Mine too.

[Simon Richards]

Excellent.

Prior to arriving at the Library of Parliament, I worked at the Bank of Canada as an economist. I look forward to working with you all.

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

Welcome aboard.

This wraps up the meeting. I think we had a wonderful first meeting. Everybody seemed to get used to everybody's body language and to know where they stood. We had no major disagreements, so hopefully, we can continue in this spirit.

We're going to have a big meeting on Tuesday.

[Sukh Dhaliwal, Liberal, Surrey—Newton, BC]

I bring the motion to adjourn the meeting, please.

[The Chair, Liberal, Mark Eyking]

If you get your witness lists, start bringing them on.

Thank you.

The meeting is adjourned.