Evidence of meeting #1 for National Defence in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was minutes.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Sven Spengemann Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
The second motion deals with the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure.
That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be established and be composed of five (5) members; the Chair, one member from each party; and that the subcommittee work in the spirit of collaboration.
Conservative
James Bezan Conservative Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB
That wording at the end, “in the spirit of collaboration”, is that something new that you threw in there, Sven, or has it been around for a while?
Liberal
Sven Spengemann Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Had it not been there I would have thrown it in, but I think it is customary.
Conservative
James Bezan Conservative Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB
In that spirit of collaboration, I guess we can accept it.
(Motion agreed to)
Liberal
Sven Spengemann Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Madam Chair, the next motion is on reduced quorum:
That the Chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive evidence and to have that evidence printed when a quorum is not present, provided that at least four (4) members are present, including one member of the opposition and one member of the government, but when travelling outside the parliamentary precinct, that the meeting begin after fifteen (15) minutes, regardless of members present.
Conservative
Cheryl Gallant Conservative Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON
Madam Chair, I'd like to propose an amendment that we insert the word “official” between “the” and “opposition”, so that it reads “four (4) members are present, including one member of the official opposition and one member of the government”.
Conservative
Cheryl Gallant Conservative Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON
It's been the normal practice to have a member of each opposition present in a reduced quorum, but at the very least the official opposition should be there.
Conservative
James Bezan Conservative Selkirk—Interlake—Eastman, MB
I'd like to speak in favour of the amendment to the motion. It just ensures balance, so that there's always one government member present and one member of Her Majesty's loyal opposition present. Of course, we'd expect other opposition members to be present too.
Randall Garrison NDP Esquimalt—Saanich—Sooke, BC
I was also going to propose an amendment to the same section, which would say “two members from opposition parties”. That would require at least two of the three parties to be present.
We have competing texts. I'm not sure how that will work in terms of trying to deal with amendments.
Conservative
Cheryl Gallant Conservative Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke, ON
We have two amendments. Mine is first, then, in inserting the word “official”.
Randall, you would put in another one.
Liberal
Sven Spengemann Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
Madam Chair, would it be acceptable if we said “two members of the opposition, including at least one member of the official opposition”?
Liberal
Sven Spengemann Liberal Mississauga—Lakeshore, ON
The spirit of the motion is to allow the intake of evidence under minimal participation. If you want the full committee there, that defeats the purpose of the motion. There will be no substantive discussion. It's strictly intake of evidence, as far as I understand it, right?
Bloc
Michel Boudrias Bloc Terrebonne, QC
I assume that we are talking about a minimum of four members here.
The request clearly states that at least one of the members must be from the official opposition and that there is still room for the opposition in the broader sense, meaning the Bloc Québécois and the New Democratic Party, therefore. Surely, there is a way of arranging things so that everyone is in agreement. I am sure that nobody is going to leave us on the sidelines.
We can find a way to adopt your amendments, as long as we make sure that it is not restrictive in the sense that there are four opposition members. However, the official opposition can't monopolize all four seats. I am open to this, but we have to find a way to embrace a spirit of openness and collaboration from the outset.
Liberal
Larry Bagnell Liberal Yukon, YT
We have to remember the spirit of this. If our witnesses come from all across Canada, and not too many people are interested, you still want to hear them, as long as you have at least one person from each side, but I'm flexible.
