Subcommittee on Neurological Disease Committee on Oct. 19th, 2010

[The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Christine Holke David]

Good morning, everyone.

Honourable members of the committee, I see there is a quorum. We can now proceed to the election of the chair.

I must inform members that the Clerk of the Committee can only receive motions for the election of the chair. The clerk cannot receive other types of motions, entertain points of order, or participate in debate.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the chair must be a member of the government party. I am ready to receive motions to that effect.

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

I would like to nominate Joy Smith.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Dr. Duncan that Ms. Smith 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)

I declare the motion carried and Mrs. Smith duly elected chair of the subcommittee.

[Joy Smith, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

Thank you, everybody.

I just got a message from Patrick: “One minute away, limping. I ran a marathon on Sunday.”

[The Clerk]

Before I invite Mrs. Smith to take the chair, we now move to the election of the vice-chair.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the first vice-chair must be a member of the official opposition.

I am now ready to receive motions for the position of vice-chair.

[Joy Smith, Conservative, Kildonan—St. Paul, MB]

I would like to nominate Dr. Duncan for vice-chair.

[The Clerk]

Moved by Mrs. Smith that Ms. Duncan be elected vice-chair of the subcommittee.

Are there any further motions?

(Motion agreed to)

I declare the motion carried and Ms. Duncan duly elected vice-chair of the subcommittee.

Mrs. Smith, the floor is yours.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you.

I would like to congratulate everybody--and Mr. Malo, for his beautiful smile and his support.

Today you have in front of you a work issue. The first thing we have to decide is how many times we're going to meet. There are two possibilities before we talk about the work plan.

Are we going to meet once a week for two hours or twice a week for one hour each?

Mr. Malo, do you have any thoughts on it?

[Luc Malo, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

Madam Chair, we could meet once a week for two hours or twice for one hour equally well. I have no preference.

It's up to you, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Monsieur Malo, you are too generous. I would suggest the two-hour meeting once a week because people are so busy. If that's the will of the committee, it will be really good.

What do you think, Dr. Duncan?

[Kirsty Duncan, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

I would prefer the two hours, just for the reason you said, Madam Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Thank you. So if we're all in agreement, we will meet....

You are not limping badly enough to be late, Mr. Brown. I'm just joking. We are deciding between meeting once a week for two hours or one hour twice a week. So far the consensus is that we would like to meet for two hours once a week. Is that okay?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

So we will meet two hours once a week on a Tuesday.

[Patrick Brown, Conservative, Barrie, ON]

Will we meet from 9 to 11?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

No, it will be from 8:45 to 10:45.

In front of you we have a possible draft work plan.

Monsieur Malo.

[Luc Malo, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

Unfortunately, I have not had time to become familiar with the document and I would like to be able to do so before we discuss the matter. Would it be possible to postpone all matters related to the agenda to another meeting?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

Mr. Malo, I think that's a very smart idea. Why don't we take the draft work plan with us, examine it, and go over our very important work plan next Tuesday?

Is everybody in agreement with that? Okay, he is.

Can I have our researcher make a comment?

[Karin Phillips, Committee Researcher]

I want to stress that this is just a discussion document. It is more to get the discussion going. I'm open to suggestions. Nothing is fixed in here; it's just so we can move forward.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joy Smith]

It looks like a very good draft. But if you have any thoughts on it--and I'm sure we all will because it's a very important topic--please get them to the analyst to make sure she can add them to the work plan for discussion next week.

I think that's all for today, ladies and gentlemen.

The meeting is adjourned.