Evidence of meeting #25 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 standing.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

3:35 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Art Hanger

I now call to order the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights.

I would like to begin by addressing the purpose of this particular meeting, as was notified through the clerk to me. I know that I am obligated to call a meeting under Standing Order 106(4) within five days of the clerk receiving a letter signed by four members of the committee. In fact, I believe it was all six members, with the exclusion of Mr. Comartin, in opposition who signed this particular notification.

Today's meeting was called after the clerk received a letter on Friday, May 2, through Standing Order 106(4), which reads as follows:

Within five days of the receipt, by the clerk of a standing committee, of a request signed by any four members of the said committee, the Chair of the said committee shall convene such a meeting provided that forty-eight hours' notice is given of the meeting. For the purposes of this section, the reasons for convening such a meeting shall be stated in the request.

Noting the request, the purposes stated:

We the undersigned members of the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights request that a meeting of our Standing Committee be convened, pursuant to Standing Order 106(4), in order to consider the motion moved by the member from Beauséjour on Tuesday, March 11, 2008.

The motion referred to on March 11 was Mr. LeBlanc's motion, which is as follows:

That, in order to determine whether Section 119 of the Criminal Code and Section 41 of the Parliament of Canada Act currently serve as effective deterrents in preventing attempts to bribe Members of Parliament, this Committee hold additional meetings specifically for the purpose of conducting an immediate study into allegations that Chuck Cadman was offered financial inducements in exchange for voting with the Conservatives in the House of Commons.

I might point out, members of the committee, that this motion has already been ruled out of order on several occasions by the chair. If any members require a reminder of the rationale for this ruling, I point to you Standing Order 108 on powers of standing committees, as well as the minutes of this committee on March 11, 2008. The ruling of the chair stands, and therefore the discussion thereupon is out of order.

With this topic off the table, there are no other stated purposes for this committee to consider a Standing Order 106(4) request. Therefore, I am adjourning the meeting.

The meeting is adjourned.