National Defence Committee on Feb. 18th, 2016

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Philippe Grenier-Michaud]

Honourable members of the committee, welcome to the Standing Committee on National Defence.

I must inform members that the clerk of the committee can only receive motions for the election of the chair. The clerk cannot receive other types of motions and cannot entertain points of order or participate in debate.

We can now proceed to the election of the chair.

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

I am ready to receive motions for the chair.

Mrs. Romanado, you have the floor.

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

I nominate Mr. Stephen Fuhr.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Ms. Romanado that Mr. Fuhr be elected chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions?

Seeing none, is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

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

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Clerk]

I invite Mr. Fuhr to take the chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

Good morning, everybody. Thank you for your support and for being here this morning.

I would like to move forward with the election our vice-chairs, if that's agreeable to everybody.

Mr. Clerk.

[The Clerk]

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the first vice-chair must be a member of the official opposition.

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

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

I nominate Cheryl Gallant.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Mr. Bezan that Ms. Gallant be elected as first vice-chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions?

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

You're just doing Conservative right now?

[The Clerk]

Yes.

Seeing none, is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

I declare the motion carried and Ms. Gallant duly elected first vice-chair of the committee.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Clerk]

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the second vice-chair must be a member of an opposition party other than the official opposition.

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

Mr. Bezan.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

I nominate Mr. Garrison.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Mr. Bezan that Mr. Garrison be elected as second vice-chair of the committee.

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

(Motion agreed to)

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Garrison duly elected second vice-chair of the committee.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

We'll move forward with adopting the routine motions. The clerk will hand them out, and then we'll get started.

[Darren Fisher, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Are we moving motions now?

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

Yes.

[Darren Fisher, Liberal, Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS]

Mr. Chair, I would move the first motion:

That the Committee retain, as needed and at the discretion of the Chair, the services of one or more analysts from the Library of Parliament to assist it in its work.

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

Is there any discussion on this?

[Cheryl Gallant, Conservative, Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON]

Do we get to choose our analysts?

[The Chair, Liberal, Stephen Fuhr]

That's not what it says. I believe they've been provided.

There doesn't appear to be any discussion.

(Motion agreed to)

Ms. Romanado, could you please proceed with the second routine motion?

[Sherry Romanado, Liberal, Longueuil—Charles-LeMoyne, QC]

Certainly. I move:

That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be composed of five (5) members, including the Chair, the two Vice-Chairs and two (2) government members; that the quorum of the Subcommittee consist of at least three (3) members; that each member of the Subcommittee be permitted to have one (1) assistant attend any meetings of the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure; and that, in addition, each party be permitted to have one (1) staff member from the Whip's Office attend any meetings.

[James Bezan, Conservative, Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB]

I have a point of order. The document that was just handed out says that routine motions were adopted by the committee in the previous session, and what's on here is not what was adopted by the national defence committee in the previous session.

In both sessions 1 and 2 of the 41st Parliament, the motion that we had was that the subcommittee on agenda and procedure be composed of five members, including the chair, the two vice-chairs, the parliamentary secretary—oh, I guess it's because there's no parliamentary secretary.

I think we actually modified that, because it was just the parliamentary secretary, the chair, and the two vice-chairs that made up the steering committee.