Justice Committee on Feb. 2nd, 2009

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Miriam Burke]

Honourable members of the committee, I see a quorum. We can now proceed to the election of the chair. I am ready to receive motions to that effect.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the chair must be a member of the government party.

Mr. LeBlanc.

[Dominic LeBlanc, Liberal, Beauséjour, NB]

Madam Clerk, I move that Ed Fast be chair.

[The Clerk]

It's been moved by Mr. LeBlanc that Mr. Fast be elected chair of the committee. Are there further motions?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

[The Clerk]

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Fast duly elected chair of the committee.

Before inviting Mr. Fast to take the chair, if the committee wishes, we will now proceed to the election of vice-chairs.

I'm now prepared to receive motions for the first vice-chair.

Mr. Moore.

[Rob Moore, Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

I move that Brian Murphy be vice-chair.

[The Clerk]

It's been moved by Mr. Moore that Mr. Murphy be elected as the first vice-chair of the committee.

Are there any other motions?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

[The Clerk]

I am now ready to receive motions for the election of the second vice-chair.

[Marc Lemay, Bloc, Abitibi—Témiscamingue, QC]

I move that Mr. Réal Ménard be elected second vice-chair.

[The Clerk]

It's been moved by Mr. Lemay

that Mr. Ménard be elected second vice-chair of the committee.

Is it the pleasure of the committee to accept the said motion?

(Motion agreed to)

[The Clerk]

I now invite Mr. Fast to take the chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Fast]

Thank you.

I just want to tell you that it's an honour to be elected to this position.

I took it upon myself to go back and look at some of the transcripts of the justice committee from the last Parliament. For the most part there was a fair degree of collegiality and good work that happened at this committee. Obviously, from time to time we do have disagreements, but I thought the committee worked well until the last few months. It is my hope that we'll continue in that spirit of collegiality.

I should also say that I am new to this committee, although I have appeared before it and I have also sat in as an alternate. Many of you have years of experience here, and I will be leaning on you for assistance. If you feel there is something that I should know about how the meetings are conducted, I'm certainly open to receiving that from any member of this committee.

I believe, Madam Clerk, we have some routine motions that we go through, so I would open up the floor for those motions.

The clerk will pass those around.

Yes, Mr. Murphy.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

I see from the heading that these are the routine motions that were adopted for the justice committee in the last session. Is that right? So there have been no changes.

That seemed to work pretty well. At your pleasure, Mr. Chair, rather than move them one by one, I would move that we adopt all of these routine motions, if that is acceptable.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Fast]

Mr. Moore.

[Rob Moore, Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

There are just a few that I did want to have some discussion on. Although I'd love to get through this quickly, there are a couple.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Fast]

Could you identify which ones those are? Then we can do the rest by omnibus.

[Rob Moore, Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

Sure. I'll start with motions.

It now says, in the second paragraph to the bottom, page one:

That 48 hours' notice be required for any substantive motion to be considered by the Committee, unless the substantive motion relates directly to business then under consideration;

I would propose that we take out one part of it so that the motion reads:

That 48 hours' notice be required for any substantive motion to be considered by the Committee;

The reason I'm proposing--

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Fast]

Mr. Moore, perhaps I could just ask you to identify the motions that there may be some debate on and the ones for which there is consent to move forward on and agree to.

[Rob Moore, Conservative, Fundy Royal, NB]

Sure.

I consent to move forward on all but the priority of legislation--which actually is, I think, a new one that I'd like to insert--but then motions; as I mentioned, the 48-hour requirement and also the speaking order.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Fast]

Thank you.

Mr. Ménard.

[Réal Ménard, Bloc, Hochelaga, QC]

Mr. Chair, I want to make sure that I fully understand Mr. Moore's position on the 48 hours' notice. Basically, we do not need anyone to be taken by surprise by motions being brought forward that we have not had the time to prepare and examine as they deserve, and that our offices, the government house leader's and the whip's, have not been made aware of.

For substantive motions, I assume that, if we are dealing with amendments, and we are already studying a bill or a motion, motions can be made. The clerk can enlighten us about that. I want to understand the point that Mr. Moore wanted to make. If we are in clause-by-clause study of a bill, is it his intention that it not be possible to make an amendment, or a friendly amendment as they are called? How does Mr. Moore see that?

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Fast]

I think what we're trying to do is just identify the motions that we have agreement on right now. Then we'll deal with the others one by one.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

Point of order.

[The Chair, Conservative, Ed Fast]

Yes, Mr. Murphy.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

I think the way it falls then--and maybe there's agreement from Mr. Moore--is that no objections arise from the first ten motions. So I would amend my motion to pass just the first ten motions.

[A voice]

Nine.