Natural Resources Committee on Nov. 27th, 2007

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Not to prejudge members, but I would ask the committee, would they agree to that readily, rather than “adopt” for the government to “respond to”, which is what the government will do anyway?

Mr. Anderson.

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

Mr. Chair, I would just ask that she read the entire motion, please. We're not against the first part of that. I'm not sure what the text in the second part of the motion is.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

The clerk will read the motion.

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

The motion reads:The Standing Committee on Natural Resources calls on the government to respond to the recommendations put forward in the “Advisory Group Report: National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Canadian Extractive Industry in Developing Countries”, and to announce its proposal for the implementation of these recommendations to the House.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Mr. Anderson.

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

Mr. Chair, we're prepared to support the motion if there is a period after “Developing Countries”.

We're talking about the response to the CSR report, so we're not going to presume they will implement the recommendations.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Mr. Alghabra.

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

Instead of having “to announce its proposal”, why don't we say “to announce any proposal” ?

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

We're presuming then that these recommendations will be implemented prior to the government even responding to them, and I don't think we can do that. I'm prepared to call on the government to respond to the report, but I'm not prepared to presuppose that we're going to implement the recommendations or report immediately.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Mr. Anderson, I think what Mr. Alghabra has proposed--I haven't asked Ms. Bell yet whether she will accept that--doesn't necessarily indicate proposals would be put forth. It says “to put forth any proposal”. I think that is open, at least in my judgment, but the committee decides that.

Ms. Bell, what do you think about that?

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

I'm okay with both amendments--to respond, and to announce any proposals. I understand, through discussions with my colleagues, we're asking for a response here from the government; we're not presupposing they will adopt the recommendations, approve them, or implement anything.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Please read the motion.

[The Clerk]

The Standing Committee on Natural Resources calls on the government to respond to the recommendations put forward in the “Advisory Group Report: National Roundtables on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Canadian Extractive Industry in Developing Countries”, and to announce any proposals for the implementation of these recommendations.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Thank you so much for your cooperation.

If we're going to clause-by-clause in the second half of the meeting on Thursday....

Ms. Bell, sorry. Go ahead.

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

If it doesn't say “to the House”, will it not go to the House?

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

The government generally responds.

Mr. Anderson.

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

A little more comprehensive form of this motion may be coming before one of the other committees. I think they will be discussing it at length and in more depth than we are. Perhaps from there they will make a recommendation to report to the House.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Thanks to everybody for your cooperation.

If there are any amendments, get them in as soon as you can. I assume you've been working on them anyway. Get them in tomorrow to the clerk--tomorrow morning ideally.

Thank you very much.

The meeting is adjourned.