Evidence of meeting #20 for Justice and Human Rights in the 39th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was vote.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Art Hanger
I will not let this committee turn into a circus. I will not take the count. As far as I'm concerned, the matter is finished, and I will not take the count.
Liberal
Liberal
Derek Lee Liberal Scarborough—Rouge River, ON
At this point, colleagues, we do not have a chair. I believe the chair has resigned or left his position.
That being the case, unless members have other views, I would ask the clerk to preside over the election of a new chair.
If a reference is needed, I'll refer you to page 833 of Marleau and Montpetit, which deals with the circumstance of the resignation or absence of the chair.
I nominate Mr. Dykstra as chair of the justice committee.
I would move that Mr. Dykstra be elected chair of the committee, and I would ask the clerk to preside over an election in that regard.
Liberal
Mark Holland Liberal Ajax—Pickering, ON
We don't have a chair. We have a chair who refuses to preside over the proceedings. This is a Conservative chair of the committee.
Conservative
Bloc
Conservative
Bloc
Réal Ménard Bloc Hochelaga, QC
I am not going to take the chair until Mr. Hanger explains why he has resigned, or not, and why he refuses to apply the rules.
Conservative
Rob Moore Conservative Fundy Royal, NB
He's not resigning. He said he won't take the vote. He said he will not take the vote, Réal. That's what he said.
Liberal
Derek Lee Liberal Scarborough—Rouge River, ON
As a point of order, may I ask the clerk whether there are any options that are clearly available to the committee at this point, in the absence of the chair.
Conservative
Rick Dykstra Conservative St. Catharines, ON
If we're going to read from the rules, it's pretty clear that in the absence of the chair and the vice-chairs of a committee, an acting chair must be chosen. We have a vice-chair here who can take over when the chair isn't here.
It's right on page 829. There is a vice-chair here. According to the rules, the vice-chair has to take the chair.
Conservative
Daniel Petit Conservative Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC
He has been making points of order since we started.
Bloc
Réal Ménard Bloc Hochelaga, QC
Madam clerk, I am not going to take the Chair until somebody explains why Mr. Hangar refused to abide by the Standing Orders. I cannot imagine that there are two different rules on this.
Liberal
Mark Holland Liberal Ajax—Pickering, ON
Madam Clerk, my understanding is that it is the option of the vice-chair to decline to take the chair. The committee is chaired by the Conservative Party. We have one vice-chair here who has declined to chair the committee, and therefore we need to determine an acting chair.
Liberal
Conservative
Rick Dykstra Conservative St. Catharines, ON
I appreciate Mr. Holland's interpretation, but if I read the House of Commons Procedure and Practice, it actually doesn't say what he says.
Conservative
Rick Dykstra Conservative St. Catharines, ON
It says the vice-chair, in the absence of the chair, has to take it. In the absence of the vice-chair and the chair, an acting chair has to be nominated; until that point, the vice-chair has to take it.
