Natural Resources Committee on May 16th, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Do you want to make the motion?

[TJ Harvey, Liberal, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

I'll table a motion that we undertake the proposal for a study on clean technology and natural resources by the parliamentary Standing Committee on Natural Resources.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Okay.

[TJ Harvey, Liberal, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

I move:

That the Standing Committee on Natural Resources be authorized to undertake a study of no less than 10 meetings on the opportunities and challenges facing clean technology development and its use in the natural resource sectors and; That the Committee obtain the budget necessary to travel to relevant sites across the county from August until October and; That the Committee report to the House no later than December 16, 2016.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Is there any discussion on the motion?

Mr. Barlow.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

I want to clarify a couple of things. I have no problem with the premise of this, but I want to make sure this is clear.

We're going to finish this study first, so the mining, forestry, and nuclear studies are put on the back burner. I'm fine with that, if it's the case, but I want to make sure we finish this one first. The other three are going to be put on the side burner. Is this then a separate study?

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

No.

[Kim Rudd, Liberal, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

This is going to be done over the period of time. This touches on all of the three studies. My understanding is that oil and gas will be finished, mining will start when we resume in September, and the nuclear will be after that. This would be interspersed among all three, with the report being done in December. They'd be concurrent for a period of time.

[TJ Harvey, Liberal, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

The majority of the focus of this study would happen during two weeks, one at the end of the summer recess and the other one immediately following Labour Day. The majority of the background work for this one would be done during those two weeks, separately from the other study that we're already undertaking.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Mr. Cannings.

[Richard Cannings, NDP, South Okanagan—West Kootenay, BC]

On a point of order or whatever it is, I want this to be basically a notice of motion that we can take under advisement and come back to vote on, at our next meeting, perhaps. This rather just arrived and it's quite a big thing.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

There's no need for advance notice because we're in committee business. We can deal with it today, but we don't have to finish the discussion today.

I think, to answer your question, that this is not intended in any way to delay or change anything we've already planned to do. The idea was that we were going to do this during the summer and that, if we haven't completed it before we come back in October, we would do it at another time that doesn't interfere with the schedule we've already set.

[Shannon Stubbs, Conservative, Lakeland, AB]

Obviously, it's up to the will of the committee, but I want to add my input. I would echo my colleague's comments and would support taking it back to look at the facts and think about it before we vote on it. I'd also be more comfortable with an estimated budget before we vote on it.

I might add that if we as individuals take our commitment to the environment seriously, we may choose instead to minimize our carbon footprint and bring all these witnesses in by Skype or whatever, since it seems to me the point of this is that it be a learning tour. I just want to echo Richard's comments.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Kim.

[Kim Rudd, Liberal, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Certainly there's no rush. This is something we felt would inform the committee.

You live in Alberta; you're very familiar with the oil sands and production, etc. The majority of the committee isn't. If we're really going to embrace.... It's not learning, but having witnesses come in.

When I went to OPG, just as an example, I spent seven hours there. I thought I had understood, but I really hadn't. I do now. You have the opportunity to see and feel, and it does make a difference. That was part of this.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

I'm told we need to prepare the budget. We're going to need the number of people travelling, the cities we're going to, the dates, hotels, transportation options, food, and miscellaneous expenses. That's a lot of detail we're going to need in order to get the budget prepared.

[Kim Rudd, Liberal, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

I guess if there isn't a will, then we don't want everybody to do all that work if no one's really interested in doing it.

It's up to the committee, and we'll work with what you guys decide.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Mr. McLeod is next, and then Mr. Serré.

[Michael McLeod, Liberal, Northwest Territories, NT]

Mr. Chairman, I'd like to encourage the committee to make the decision to travel sooner rather than later. I sit on another committee, and we're doing the same thing at that committee level. We're planning travel at almost the same times.

If I can get a firm handle on our travel, on how we're going to break it up and how many people need to go and all these things, I'd appreciate it. I'd like to be able to plan my summer. I'm doing it already. I have seven aboriginal assemblies to attend to, and my summer is almost full already. If I'm going to do this, I need to carve it out. I'd rather try to plan around it than try to squeeze it in later.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Marc.

[Marc Serré, Liberal, Nickel Belt, ON]

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

To echo Michael's comments, I think in principle we're saying that we want this. The suggestion of going in person—what was proposed here—would I think be of great benefit.

I'm wondering whether we could provide some of that detail to the clerk on the number of people. We're looking at August and we're looking at a few days in October. If we could provide that detail, with the number of people and the number of days, then the clerk and the analyst could come back to us at another meeting with the budget. Then we could formally decide, but just giving the okay today to look at the cost and agreeing in principle would be a good suggestion.

Those are my comments.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

I'm going to turn it over to John for one more comment. Then I have to wrap this thing up by a quarter to seven, because we have places we have to be.

[John Barlow, Conservative, Foothills, AB]

Mr. Chair, I appreciate that.

I have two really quick things.

First, Kim, I appreciate the support for Fort McMurray. I think it's very important that our committee go there and show support. I said earlier that Shannon and I spent some time in northern Alberta this week. People are very encouraged that we said we would try to get the committee to talk about some of the issues. We can certainly go, I think, at any time. We wouldn't necessarily be in Fort McMurray. We would maybe go to a SAGD or an institute facility outside.

I don't think I can stress this other one enough, and Michael, you brought it up as well. Many of us here are new. Your summers are gold, gold at home in your riding. I do not support doing this over the summer break. I think it is something we can do while we're sitting. We might have to play with the calendar a little bit.

I know what my summer is already packed full, and I cherish every moment I have at home with my family. I do not want to be travelling on parliamentary business when I have very limited time with my family in the summer. I don't think we should be doing this during the summer break. That's just my opinion.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Can I suggest on that note that we adjourn and pick up the discussion on Wednesday when we are finished with the witnesses?

[TJ Harvey, Liberal, Tobique—Mactaquac, NB]

Do we have consensus to allow the clerk to explore the financial side of it?