Natural Resources Committee on Jan. 16th, 2008

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Okay.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

That's better asked to the chair, I think. I don't think we would object to that, but potentially there may be more than three witnesses on that day and on Thursday. We may end up in a situation in which people have sent in the names of half a dozen or more witnesses. I think we need to be prepared to hear them, whether it's all on the 29th or the 29th and 31st, or however that works out. We're willing to do that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

The way this is headed, it really seems to me that there will be more than three witnesses.

We've had a request for the motion to be read back to us, so could the clerk read the motion before we carry on? Let's make sure we know what we're discussing here.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The motion as moved by Mr. Alghabra, including the friendly amendment, would be that the committee invite the following individuals, Linda Keen, Sheila Fraser, and Michael Burns, on Tuesday, January 29, and that the committee reserves the right to invite further witnesses at a later date.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

But the motion as read does not accommodate what Mr. Anderson is asking for, which is that all parties be allowed to submit lists of witnesses they would like and then the committee can decide which ones would attend or leave it up to the chair and the clerk to make sure that some of all the witnesses submitted are accommodated, whatever approach the committee would like. There is a difference there. If the difference can't be accepted as a friendly amendment, then we'll have to go back to discussion on that part of Mr. Anderson's amendment and carry through to a vote.

I heard agreement from the Liberal Party that they would accommodate other witnesses besides these three, but that's not what the motion does.

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

I don't understand why you would think the motion doesn't allow for that. It says the committee reserves the right to call, which means there's an opening for more witnesses.

You're saying we're going to have the other witnesses at the same meeting, on the same day?

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Well, to be considered at the same time.

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

To be considered and to be invited are different things. In my opinion, this motion leaves the consideration wide open.

I'm telling you, the intent and the letter of the motion leaves wide open any room for inviting more witnesses as submitted by other parties. We might have more witnesses too.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

But that's different.

Let's go to further discussion on the part of Mr. Anderson's amendment dealing with how we will choose witnesses.

Ms. Bell, on that.

[Catherine Bell, NDP, Vancouver Island North, BC]

I was going to ask for some clarification, but with regard to inviting more witnesses, just to see if I'm getting Mr. Anderson's friendly amendment correct, we're looking at being able to submit our list of witnesses prior to the meeting on the 29th so that those witnesses would be considered to be heard either on that day, at an extended hearing, or at a future date?

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

I don't believe there's anything in his motion as to when they would actually appear before the committee.

Mr. Anderson, maybe you could clarify your intent there.

[David Anderson, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

I don't think I had any particular intent there. We've had hearings where we've had six or eight witnesses in two hours.

It sounds to me like the Liberals are suggesting we're going to spend at least an hour with each one of these witnesses, so we're spending an extended hearing just hearing three people. Other times we've had groups of people. We could put three of them at the table at once and bring three other witnesses.

So it doesn't really matter to us. We're just saying we want to have the same right that the Liberals do to bring witnesses in. The way the motion's worded right now, they get to bring their witnesses, and then everybody else has to wait until the committee decides whether the rest of us get our witnesses or not.

I'm saying let's just open up the witness list. If we want to hear those first three that day, or in that first two hours, or add some others, we can do that. That's what the chairman and the clerk are for. That way we can get some usefulness out of the time we're going to be spending.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Thank you, Mr. Anderson.

That's the intent of the amendment. We'll go to a vote on it....

Yes, Ms. Bell, just before we go to the vote.

[Catherine Bell, NDP, Vancouver Island North, BC]

Sorry, Mr. Chair, but I'll go back to my other point of clarification.

If we are to undertake this study, which is different from what we were planning, what does that do to the study on forestry? Will we be pushing that off until a later date or will we be able to maybe alternate meetings, one on this and one on that? They're both very large, important issues for us.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

It's an excellent question.

We had scheduled eight meetings, I think, on the forestry industry. Obviously it's a very important subject. The committee has to deal with that and decide that. Are we going to just push that study off?

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Unless Mr. Anderson is willing to withdraw his date amendment....

I proposed that we do it next week because of the existing studies we'd agreed on, but even Ms. Bell said she couldn't make it next week. So I'm confused here. I'm at a loss.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Okay.

Ms. Bell, you understand what the intent of the amendment is?

[Catherine Bell, NDP, Vancouver Island North, BC]

Oh, I do, yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Okay.

Let's go to the question on Mr. Anderson's amendment.

(Amendment agreed to--[See Minutes of Proceedings])

(Motion as amended agreed to--[See Minutes of Proceedings])

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

I think it was unanimous, or very close; it's hard to tell sometimes.

Very good. Is there any further business for this committee?

We need a date, of course, for when members of the committee will submit lists. Can we make that deadline next Tuesday? Is that reasonable as a deadline for members to submit the witnesses they would like to appear? Even the end of this week would work too, or next Monday afternoon, or sometime in that timeframe.

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

That's fine, although I think we have more time. We know we're not going to invite them on Tuesday, the 29th, since we already have witnesses for that date, unless we're planning to interview witnesses all day. So we have more time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

We don't know for certain that all three witnesses will be available. I think we have to have backup. Maybe none of them will be available. It's quite possible with that timeframe. There's a better chance certainly with this timeframe than with the former one.

By next Monday afternoon? Is that...?

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga—Erindale, ON]

Can we make it next Thursday, please?

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Okay. Is that agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.