Natural Resources Committee on Oct. 19th, 2010

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Good morning, everyone.

Good to see everybody on time here this morning. That's great. I know you have to get used to travelling a little farther to some of the committee rooms now.

We're starting this meeting in public to discuss the budget for the travel to the oil sands, both the mining and the in situ near Fort McMurray, and to Fort Nelson, British Columbia, to the shale gas operations. You each have a copy of the budget before you. The total would be roughly $105,000. That would be the full committee travel, along with the seven staff listed there.

The one thing that I think is important to mention is that if the committee is going to travel, everyone who's committed to go has to go, pretty much, or it'll just be cancelled; you know what the issue is with having an equal number of government and opposition members going. If you do commit to go, and we expect we'll have a balanced group going, we can carry on with the travel, or all the cost of organizing and all the effort--and it takes a lot of effort to organize something like this--will be wasted.

Any discussion on the budget? I'm open for any comments.

Is it agreed, then, to take this...? Oh, there is some discussion.

Go ahead, Madame Brunelle.

[Paule Brunelle, Bloc, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Mr. Chair, the whip's office told me that there had been discussions on the matter and that using our points for travel was not recommended. So there were agreements between the committees.

If I understand this budget correctly, members would travel on their points. Yet we are told that the committees have budgets for that. We refuse to use our points for travel.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

No, Madame Brunelle, it says here that it's without points, so the travel will be paid for by the committee. We're proposing to have everyone fly in Thursday night. For example, you can take an eight o'clock flight from Ottawa that gets you in by about a quarter after ten, usually, and then to come back, we're trying to get back into Edmonton by about four o'clock in the afternoon, so you can get a flight back Friday afternoon and be in your constituencies, hopefully, most of us anyway, for Saturday, getting back Friday night. That's the proposal, and it is paid for by the committee. That is part of the budget, $105,000.

Mr. Coderre has moved the budget. Any further discussion?

The dates are November 18 and 19, which is the week right after the Remembrance Day constituency work week.

It has been moved. Is the budget carried?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Leon Benoit]

Thank you very much. I will take it to the liaison committee immediately following this committee meeting.

Now we will have to suspend for about three minutes while we go in camera. Then we'll come back and the clerk will be distributing some documents regarding the analysts' grouping of the recommendations that were sent from all parties. It's not a grouping we have to go with, but it's a starting point and is usually very helpful.

We will suspend for three minutes and come back with a discussion of the recommendations for the committee report on medical isotopes.

[Proceedings continue in camera]