Natural Resources Committee on Oct. 14th, 2020

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Marc-Olivier Girard]

Honourable members of the committee, I see a quorum.

I must inform you that the clerk of the committee can only receive motions for the election of the chair. The clerk cannot receive at this point other types of motions, cannot entertain points of order nor participate in the debate.

The first item of business is to proceed with the election of the chair. Therefore, pursuant to the Standing Orders, the chair must be a member of the governing party.

I'm now ready to receive motions for the chair.

[Bryan May, Liberal, Cambridge, ON]

Mr. Clerk, it would be my honour to nominate James Maloney for the chair.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Mr. May that Mr. Maloney be elected as chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

[The Clerk]

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Maloney duly elected chair of the committee.

Congratulations, Mr. Maloney.

Before you take your chair, Mr. Chair, and make your welcoming speech, if the committee is willing, I will proceed with the election of both vice-chairs, the first and second vice-chairs. Is that all right with everyone? Yes.

The first vice-chair, as you know, pursuant to the Standing Orders, must belong to the official opposition. I'm now ready to receive motions to that effect.

Do we have any nominations for the position of first vice-chair?

[Jeremy Patzer, Conservative, Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK]

Mr. Clerk, I will nominate Greg McLean to be the first vice-chair.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Mr. Patzer that Mr. McLean be elected as first vice-chair.

Are there any further motions?

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

Yes.

Mr. Clerk, I nominate Mr. Mario Simard as vice-chair also.

[The Clerk]

You are giving advance notice of the nomination.

Mr. Simard will be eligible for the position of second vice-chair. For the moment, we are electing the first vice-chair.

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

That's fine.

[The Clerk]

Are there any further motions for the position of first vice-chair?

Is is the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

[The Clerk]

I declare the motion carried and Mr. McLean duly elected first vice-chair of the committee.

Congratulations, Mr. McLean.

[Greg McLean, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Thank you very much.

[The Clerk]

We'll now switch back to English. The last position to fill is the second vice-chair.

As you know, pursuant to the Standing Orders of the House of Commons, the second vice-chair must belong to an opposition party other than the official opposition.

Do we have any nominations for this position, please?

[Paul Lefebvre, Liberal, Sudbury, ON]

Mr. Clerk, as I said earlier, I nominate Mr. Simard as second vice-chair.

[The Clerk]

It is moved by Mr. Lefebvre that Mr. Simard be elected second vice-chair.

Are there any further motions?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

[The Clerk]

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Simard duly elected second vice-chair of the committee.

Once again, congratulations, everyone.

I will ask Mr. Maloney to take the floor for the rest of the meeting.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Thank you to our clerk. Thank you, Mr. May, for nominating me, and thank you to all of you for the honour of allowing me to serve as chair of this committee.

I've done it in the past so I have some experience to bring to the table. Having said that, we're in a unique situation. I'm used to sitting around a table, looking at all of you as opposed to looking at all of you on the screen. Although we have all sat on different committees in this fashion over the last several months, it's still a bit of unfamiliar territory. It's certainly unfamiliar territory for me, sitting as chair.

I also want to congratulate Mr. McLean and Mr. Simard. Should I falter, you're both there to catch me and I'm grateful for that. Thank you for taking on that role.

This committee, over the last several years, has a reputation for working incredibly well together across party lines. I was going to say “cautiously”, but I am completely optimistic that we're going to be able to continue to do that. I know all the members on the committee, so I can say that with confidence.

I thank you and I look forward to the future, in whatever form it may take.

Bear with me as we move along through this electronic process.

There are a couple of things. Things move a little slower on Zoom than they do in person. For example, when there is a motion or if you want to speak, you can raise your hand using the participants' button. There is a feature there to raise or lower your hand. That will keep a running list of whoever wants to speak. I will keep an eye on that, as will our clerk.

I also want to thank our clerk and our analysts, whom I've worked with in the past, for all they are going to do for us.

On that note, we need to establish our agenda. I know we need to deal with some routine motions.

I believe, Mr. Sidhu, you are going to start that process.

[Maninder Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Congratulations to the new chair and the vice-chairs.

I want to read out some routine motions.

On analyst services, I move:

That the committee retain, as needed and at the discretion of the Chair, the services of one or more analysts from the Library of Parliament to assist it in its work.

Do we do them one by one?

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

I think we need to do them one by one.

All in favour of that motion—

[The Clerk]

Mr. Chair, I'm sorry to interrupt here.

Pursuant to the order passed by the House governing the deliberations of this committee for the fall, it is either that you have unanimous consent when you put a question or it could be agreed to on division, or if there is some dissent then we need unfortunately to go to a recorded vote.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Okay, there was no dissent on that one.

(Motion agreed to)

[Maninder Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

The next routine motion is on the subcommittee on agenda and procedure. I move:

That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be established and be composed of five members, namely the Chair and one member from each recognized party; and that the subcommittee work in a spirit of collaboration.

(Motion agreed to)

[Maninder Sidhu, Liberal, Brampton East, ON]

On meeting without a quorum, I move:

That the chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive evidence and to have that evidence printed when a quorum is not present, provided that at least four members are present, including one member of the opposition and one member of the government, but when travelling outside the parliamentary precinct, that the meeting begin after fifteen minutes, regardless of members present.

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

Mr. Chair, I think I sent in an amendment to that. It's very similar, but it just says, “that at least four members are present, including two members of the opposition and two members of the government”.

[The Chair, Liberal, James Maloney]

Okay, I'm not sure I saw that, Mr. Cannings, but we can deal with that here.

Do you want to read the motion with your amendment as written, Richard?