Evidence of meeting #1 for Natural Resources in the 39th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was witnesses.
The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Chad Mariage
Honourable members, I see we have a quorum.
Before we start, let me introduce myself. My name is Chad Mariage. I'll be the clerk of the committee. Beside me here is Eugene Morawski. He'll be following me around the committee for about a month and a half or so to see me through the first few months of my committee work.
At this time, I am ready to receive nominations for chair.
Mr. Tonks.
Liberal
Alan Tonks Liberal York South—Weston, ON
Mr. Clerk, congratulations on your post.
I would like to nominate Lee Richardson for the position of chair of the committee.
The Clerk
Mr. Tonks nominates Mr. Richardson. Are there any other nominations?
Seeing none, I declare Mr. Richardson chair.
Congratulations.
The Clerk
Before I invite Mr. Richardson to take the chair, would the committee be ready to proceed to the elections of vice-chairs? I'm ready to receive nominations to that effect.
Mr. Richardson.
The Clerk
Mr. Richardson nominates Mr. McGuinty. Are there any other nominations? No.
Mr. McGuinty, congratulations on being elected first vice-chair.
Chad Mariage
Are there any other motions? If not, I'd like to congratulate you, Ms. Bell, on your election as second vice-chair.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Lee Richardson
Thank you for the distinguished honour, and congratulations to our vice-chairs, Mr. McGuinty and Madame Bell.
Having dispensed with that, are there more routine motions we have to get rid of?
I'm just catching up here with the clerk. Normally we start the committee with routine proceedings to establish the committee and things like expenses, the services of the library, and those sorts of thing. I don't see any reason why we shouldn't proceed with routine motions and get them out of the way, unless anyone has any objection to that. I think we can deal with them today and then perhaps get into a general discussion of where the committee might like to go.
So if I could, I would like then to go to these routine motions.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Lee Richardson
Apparently they were e-mailed to your offices, but the clerk will now also distribute them to members.
If everyone has had a chance to scan these briefly, they're routine motions. I don't think there are any that have normally caused any conflict in setting up the committees. The only one that I think normally warrants any debate at all is the time limits on witnesses. But if we want to proceed through them in the list that's just been distributed, I might ask for a motion regarding the services of analysts from the Library of Parliament.
Would someone move the first motion.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Lee Richardson
Mr. Trost, seconded by....
We don't need a seconder, so maybe Mr. St. Amand might move the next motion.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Lee Richardson
All right.
The motion of Mr. Trost is 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 in its work.
(Motion agreed to)
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Lee Richardson
I would invite our researcher to join us at the table, now that you're getting paid. If I can seek the committee's indulgence, I might just ask our new researcher to introduce himself and perhaps provide some contacts where he might make himself available to the committee.
Jean-Luc Bourdages Analyst, Library of Parliament
Yes, my name is Jean-Luc Bourdages.
Bonjour à tous et à Madame Bell.
I've basically been working with committees in different forms for the last 15 years or so, mostly with natural resources, sometimes helping out on the environment committee or on ad hoc studies or otherwise. Those are my main subjects.
I'm pleased to join you again.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Lee Richardson
We'll proceed then with the second motion regarding reduced quorum. Is there a mover for this motion?
This is that the chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive evidence when a quorum is not present and to have evidence printed.
This usually comes up when there is something going on in the House, we can't get everyone here, and we've invited witnesses who have come from a distance. Rather than cancel the meeting, we try to get their views.
The clerk is noting here that four members present, with two from the opposition, have previously been used. I think that's probably worthy of some debate.
Would anyone care to address that issue?
Liberal
Roy Cullen Liberal Etobicoke North, ON
That seems reasonable to me. If you have witnesses coming from far and wide, you want to be able to have the meeting struck with a reasonable number. I think four, with two members of the opposition, is reasonable.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Lee Richardson
Yes, that certainly would be my sense. It really is just about receiving evidence and having authority to print that evidence rather than having anything particularly contentious at that time.
Mr. Trost, did you have a point?
