Natural Resources Committee on Nov. 15th, 2007

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Chad Mariage]

Honorable members, I see a quorum.

Before we begin, I'd like to introduce myself, for those who don't know me. My name is Chad Mariage, and I'm the clerk of the committee.

With me is Maxime Ricard, a new clerk. He'll be shadowing me and the work of the committee. At the back of the room are the two committee assistants, Isabelle Héroux and Sophie Dalpé, who will be assisting me in the communications with the committee throughout the session.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), I'm now ready to proceed to the election of the position of chair. I should note that as clerk I'll be presiding over the election of both the chair and the vice-chairs, should the committee wish to proceed. I won't be able to receive motions, other than for the election of chair, entertain points of order, or participate in debate.

I'm now ready to receive motions for the position of chair.

Mr. Tonks.

[Alan Tonks, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I move that Mr. Benoit be chair.

[The Clerk]

Are there any other motions?

[Navdeep Bains, Liberal, Mississauga—Brampton South, ON]

He was the chair of international trade. I can vouch for that.

[The Clerk]

Are there any other motions?

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

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Clerk]

I declare Mr. Benoit the duly elected chair of the committee.

Before inviting Mr. Benoit to take the chair, if the committee so chooses, I'll proceed to the election of the vice-chairs.

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

Mr. Tonks.

[Alan Tonks, Liberal, York South—Weston, ON]

I move that Mr. St. Amand be vice-chair.

[The Clerk]

Are there any other motions?

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

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Clerk]

I declare Monsieur St. Amand the duly elected first vice-chair of the committee.

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

Are there any motions?

Ms. DeBellefeuille.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

I would like to nominate Ms. Catherine Bell.

[The Clerk]

Ms. DeBellefeuille moves that Ms. Bell be elected second vice-chair.

Are there any other motions?

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

(Motion agreed to)

I now invite Mr. Benoit to take the chair as Chairman.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Thank you very much for electing me as chair. Congratulations to the first and second vice-chairs.

I've heard good things about this committee, in terms of it being a committee that deals with business and not as many of the partisan kinds of things you can have from time to time at committee. I'm happy to hear that. I'm very much looking forward to this committee.

Now I'm looking for the will of the committee. Should we proceed with the routine motions for establishing the committee?

Madame DeBellefeuille.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

First of all, Mr. Chairman, I congratulate you on your appointment.

Does the document we received from the Clerk contain the same routine motions that we had during the last session? Has anything changed?

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

They are the same as from the last session. They're a starting point. It's up to the committee to determine fully what rules will govern this committee.

[Claude DeBellefeuille, Bloc, Beauharnois—Salaberry, QC]

I agree with the routine motions that we adopted during the last session. They worked very well. However, it seems to me—the Clerk may correct me—that the first round of questioning was seven minutes, unless that was a liberty which the previous Chair took. Nevertheless, that is what I had understood.

Could you clarify the matter?

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Yes. Could we deal with these in the order that they are on paper? Some of them, I'm sure, will go through quite quickly, and some will take more discussion.

Is it agreed that we go through the order? Anyone who wants to add routine motions, of course, is welcome to do that. We will discuss and debate those.

Who wants to start off with the services of an analyst? Should we just start there? Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Okay. Would someone like to move it?

[Ken Boshcoff, Liberal, Thunder Bay—Rainy River, ON]

I'll so move, yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Okay, it's “That...the services of...analysts from the Library of Parliament....” You see the motion in front of you.

Is it agreed?

(Motion agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

We now have the analyst; Jean-Luc Bourdages, I think, is the pronunciation.

Welcome to our committee. You're officially part of the committee now, part of the team.

Will anyone speak on reduced quorum?

Mr. Trost.

[Bradley Trost, Conservative, Saskatoon—Humboldt, SK]

By and large, this worked pretty well here last time. The only one thing is that I think it's implied that there be a member of the government for a quorum. If we could at least have, for the sake of clarity, “including two members of the opposition and one member of the government”, that would be the only small, little difference.

We never were in a situation last time in which there wasn't a member of the government, but I think it would make certain people feel more comfortable if that were in there.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Ms. Bell.