Evidence of meeting #1 for Natural Resources in the 39th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was motions.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
David Anderson Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
I would like to ask a question about the routine orders.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Leon Benoit
Okay. A question.
We're going to give a little leeway and revert to the previous business, and then we'll go to you.
Mr. Anderson.
Conservative
David Anderson Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
I'm wondering what the policy of the committee has been in the past with regard to minority reports. I'm new here, and I know the different committees have various policies. I'm just wondering if we know what that is. At the agriculture and agrifood committee there's been some flexibility, but normally you had up to 72 hours to get the report in. I'm wondering if that's a fairly standard procedure.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Leon Benoit
You've heard Mr. Anderson's comment and question. I'm looking for some discussion on that and whether we wish to go to a motion on that.
Mr. Tonks.
Liberal
Alan Tonks Liberal York South—Weston, ON
Mr. Chair, I think something as important as minority reports and so on are governed by the Standing Orders of the House, and they always predominate. The clerk can outline what those Standing Orders are, but we've never denied a minority report. I don't know how you could, because the Standing Orders provide for that.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Leon Benoit
Mr. Tonks, at the last committee I chaired the government was denied a minority report on more than one occasion.
Liberal
Alan Tonks Liberal York South—Weston, ON
You can't imagine that happening.
Maybe the clerk could research that. If the committee isn't satisfied with that, then a motion could be brought forward.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Leon Benoit
Thank you for that, Mr. Tonks.
I know the clerk has researched it because I asked him about that before.
Go ahead.
The Clerk
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
There's no standing order that governs dissenting or supplementary opinions. The practice has been that after the committee has adopted a substantive report, there's a motion, or the party that wants to append this supplementary dissenting opinion seeks support of the committee, either by way of a motion or just by seeking the consent of the committee to append that report. Then it's up to the committee to allow that or not. The the committee has often decided length and deadlines in terms of when that party has to submit its dissenting or supplementary opinion.
In the case of the oil sands, for instance, that's what happened.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Leon Benoit
That's one way, and then other committees do have a motion on the books so they know how it will be handled. That's what Mr. Anderson is suggesting. It was on a different topic, though.
Mr. Allen.
Conservative
Conservative
Mike Allen Conservative Tobique—Mactaquac, NB
I just wanted to mention that I'm glad the clerk clarified that, because there was nothing in the Standing Orders last time, and on the oil sands report we made an agreement that a minority report would be accepted from each of the parties, which would be appended to the report, assuming it was less than five pages. That's what we agreed to, and it probably would be very good for us to have some kind of an agreement on that before we go down the road.
Conservative
David Anderson Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
I'm willing to make a motion, but if the committee has a general agreement that people are allowed to have a reasonable amount of time to prepare a minority report and that's how we'll operate, we're certainly willing to work within those boundaries. I know on some of the other committees the dissenting report can't be longer than the report itself. That seems to work well. Sometimes you get one-paragraph reports and other times they're 65 pages. I think the reasonable time constrains people to come up with something that's useful.
Liberal
Lloyd St. Amand Liberal Brant, ON
Mr. Chair, through you to the clerk, for my own education and clarification, I didn't realize until you mentioned it, Mr. Chair, that a minority report could be denied. If I can ask the clerk, does that have something to do with the impact of the chair signing the report or signing off on the report? Does that have anything to do with it at all?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Leon Benoit
There simply is no requirement that a minority report be allowed. The committee is the master of its own destiny. That particular committee decided its destiny was not to allow minority reports in some cases.
Liberal
Lloyd St. Amand Liberal Brant, ON
So once the chair has signed the report it's a fait accompli and it goes to the House?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Leon Benoit
I don't know if I understand the question. The clerk seems to, so go ahead.
The Clerk
I can read the excerpt in the House of Commons Procedure and Practice, if it will help clarify things for members.
A committee report reflects the opinion of the committee and not that of the individual members. Members of the committee who disagree with the decision of a majority may not present a separate report. There is no provision in the Standing Orders or the practices of the House for presenting minority reports. Where one or several members of a standing committee are in disagreement with the committee's report or wish to make supplementary comments, the committee may decide to append such opinions to the report, after the signature of the Chair. Dissenting or supplementary opinions may be presented by any member of the committee. Although committees have the power to append these opinions to their reports, they are not obliged to do so. In agreeing to append a dissenting or a supplementary opinion, the committee will often specify the maximum length of the text, the deadline for submission to the clerk and whether it is to be submitted in one or both official languages.
NDP
Catherine Bell NDP Vancouver Island North, BC
Having heard the ruling from the procedures manual, I don't know that it would be necessary to have any other agreement at this committee. I think it's pretty clear from those rules what we can do. I think on an as and when needed basis, if we're putting forward a report, at that time we could pass our ability to append minority or supplementary reports. I don't think we need a hard and fast rule at this committee, because who knows what's going to come up, what the circumstances are, and what the issue might be. I'd rather we could be flexible. Those rules spell it out pretty clearly to me what we can do at this committee. I think we're well served by them.