Evidence of meeting #43 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 electricity.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Todd Russell Liberal Labrador, NL
I wasn't here on Monday, and my regrets in that regard.
We're going to be very happy to have you in Labrador. It's not every day we get a committee coming through. There have been some visits, but it doesn't happen every day. We're going to be quite pleased to have the natural resources committee there.
If we leave at 7:30 a.m., what time do we land?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Lee Richardson
Todd, you tell us what you want to do, and we'll see if we can't fit it in.
Liberal
Todd Russell Liberal Labrador, NL
It's not always a good thing for visitors to come in and go out very quickly without some type of interaction with the community or with people on whose behalf we're doing the work, who are in this case not only my own Labrador constituents but constituents across Canada. Some people have requested to meet with the committee. The mayor of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, or maybe some other interest group, would like to have a few minutes with the committee to talk about this particular topic or some related topic that the natural resources committee deals with.
I'm hoping we could have an hour or hour and a half where we could hear a range of opinions in a round-table way or in some other type of fashion, so that at least the committee could feel it listened, and the people there would feel that they came in and they listened to us, that type of thing.
So that's my request.
Liberal
Lloyd St. Amand Liberal Brant, ON
I know, Mr. Chair, we're tight for time, but based on the preliminary itinerary, if I can call it that, we'll be in the air three hours going out, and on the ground about three hours if we anticipate being back in Ottawa at 4:30. What precludes us from staying one night in Churchill Falls or coming back later on so that we have something more than three hours on the ground if the flying time is six hours?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Lee Richardson
I'm sorry, I think I may have cut it a little short with 4:30, but I'm not sure there's a place to stay there.
Liberal
Todd Russell Liberal Labrador, NL
Yes, the Churchill Falls Inn or Black Spruce cabins. The Churchill Falls Inn is great. No, it's not your five-star hotel, mind you, but—
Conservative
Liberal
Todd Russell Liberal Labrador, NL
No, but I'll tell you, there is a hotel there. Everybody stays there, we all stay there. The walls are paper thin, but everything else is good. You can hear the whisky going into the glass.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Lee Richardson
I'm just going to adjourn the meeting and go in camera, then...or after the meeting so we don't have all this recorded.
All right, do you want to explain about the logistics?
The Clerk
The only problem I think we would have with your request, Mr. St. Amand, through the chair, would be that we've already adopted the motion to only travel the one day. We've received the House order from the whips to only travel the one day. The budget that was adopted by the Liaison Committee was for the one day.
I'll start over. The only problem I could see is that the motion that was adopted, the budget that was adopted by the Liaison Committee, and the House order that was given by the whips are all for the one-day trip. In terms of having a meeting, a round table or something, that requires additional resources in terms of getting in extra translators, getting in people for the recording, proceedings and verification monitors. So we would need an additional sum of money. Since the trip is in a week, essentially, a week from Monday, I think we would be in a difficult position.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Lee Richardson
I think we can be reasonable about it. My sense is that it would add to the meeting if we can somehow work it in. Maybe we can do it over lunch in an informal way. We had meetings in Fort McMurray in a general way; we didn't have translation in some of those presentations, we didn't have that sort of thing. If we need to have that, we can have whisper translators like we did before. We may need that, anyway, along the trip.
Todd, why don't you meet with Chad, the clerk, and see what you can work out? Give him an idea of what you're looking for and we'll see if we can bring these things together. I think the general consensus of the committee is that we'd like to meet some of the folks in the community. If they're all as charming as you, I'm sure we would enjoy it.
Liberal
Todd Russell Liberal Labrador, NL
You'll want to stay. We'll have the Richardson Suite at the Churchill Falls Inn, or the Richardson Cabin, a Black Spruce cabin.
Liberal
Conservative
Bloc
Claude DeBellefeuille Bloc Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC
I am quite willing to meet with people from Mr. Russell's community. The only question I have concerns interpretation services. I am the only unilingual francophone. When we travelled to Fort McMurray, although I enjoyed the community, I found the whole experience rather tiring. I had someone whispering into my ear for four or five hours. It was very hard to concentrate.
I simply wanted some assurances that an interpreter would be along for the tour of the plant. For example, I couldn't understand the interpretation at all when we were travelling by helicopter, because of the noise level. I just wanted to be certain that special consideration would be given to this matter, so that I can take full advantage of my visit, just like other committee members.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Lee Richardson
I think that's a very reasonable point. I know how difficult it was with the helicopter. We might not have any helicopters this time, but there should be some practical way--even if you use headphones and walkie-talkies, or whatever. We'll see what we can work out. I think it's going to be easier this time.
From what Mr. Russell has said, it wouldn't add a lot of complexity. Whisper translators will be coming with you. We'll have someone accompanying you throughout.
I think that's the best we can do. If you have any other suggestions, please send them to the clerk and we'll see if we can accommodate them.
Monsieur Ouellet.
Bloc
Christian Ouellet Bloc Brome—Missisquoi, QC
Mr. Del Mastro asked a very good question, but didn't get an answer. He asked about the amount of sunshine Canada received. The energy from the sun is the same here in Canada as it is in Africa, India or anywhere else on earth. From a perpendicular angle, the sun generates 3,400 kilowatt-hours per square metre anywhere on earth. Of course, under cloudy conditions, it's a little different.
Quebec and Ontario in particular—the two provinces I'm most familiar with—are fortunate to receive a fairly remarkable number of hours of sunshine during the winter. Ofter, they receive more sun than Miami. People just don't realize it. Our solar energy is truly extraordinary. That's all I wanted to say.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Conservative