Official Languages Committee on May 9th, 2006

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Mr. Chairman, I think that we need an amendment to clarify the situation. We have just discussed it.

[Luc Harvey, Conservative, Louis-Hébert, QC]

The situation has been corrected. The motion now reads: “be allowed to be accompanied by one staff person” and not “of the member's staff”. The word “staff” is very open-ended and mostly refers to the political aspect.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

In my view, we have to clarify the wording. We have just discussed it. We have to specify that the person has to be a member from the caucus' staff or has to be employed by the member.

[Luc Harvey, Conservative, Louis-Hébert, QC]

We don't have to do so.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

We can't agree to having someone who works for the party. I think it has to be clarified.

[Luc Harvey, Conservative, Louis-Hébert, QC]

I think that everyone can live with the motion as worded.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

I'll hear from one more member and then we will vote on the motion.

[Jean-Claude D'Amours, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

Mr. Chairman, it is clear that staff members have to be people who work on Parliament Hill or in a member's office. It cannot be someone working for the party or for a law firm. It has to be someone working for caucus or a member. I don't see how it can be anyone else. We are not responsible for anyone else.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

Mr. Godin has moved the motion as drafted. We will vote on it now.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

We will now move on to the next motion: transcripts of in-camera meetings. Would anyone like to move the motion?

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Mr. Chairman, I will move the motion: that one copy of the transcript of all in-camera meetings be kept in the committee clerk's office for consultation by the members of the committee.

(Motion agreed to)

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

We will now move on to the next motion: notice of motion. This is a fairly standard motion. Can I have a mover? Ms. Barbot.

[Vivian Barbot, Bloc, Papineau, QC]

I would like to move the motion.

(Motion agreed to) [See Minutes of Proceedings]

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I move that we add two other motions to our routine motions. The first one reads as follows:

That whenever the main estimates or the supplementary estimates are tabled in the House, our committee invite the minister or any relevant senior officials of a department to appear at a meeting of the committee, which is televised if possible.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I don't know if this is a point of order, but we have just adopted a motion stating that no motion shall be discussed in committee unless a 48 hours' notice has been given. I would therefore, if you please, like to receive a notice of 48 hours for motions presented before the committee.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

We can do so, because it says here:

“unless the substantive motion relates directly to business then under consideration”.

We are under consideration of routine motions. We can defer to Thursday; that's fine. I'm just saying that we are considering routine motions right now, and this is something I'd like to add to the routine motions.

But we can wait.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I would like him to table his motions, but I would like us to vote on them in 48 hours so that we will have had time to study them.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Of course.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

We will have a little more time to make our decisions on Thursday.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I will read the second motion and give it to the clerk, who will then be able to distribute it.

That whenever a Chapter of a Report of the Auditor General refers to a subject under the mandate of the Committee, the Committee study the matter and invite officials of the Office of the Auditor General of Canada and any relevant Senior Officials of a Department to appear at a meeting of the Committee and, if possible, that it be televised.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

I will give it to the clerk.

On the questioning of witnesses, the 38th Parliament--

[Raymonde Folco, Liberal, Laval—Les Îles, QC]

Before we deal with this issue, I would ask to people who draft these documents — and I don't want to name names, because I don't know them anyway — to be very careful with French grammar and vocabulary.

The word “opposition” is feminine. I was taught in grammar school that in French all words that end with “tion” were feminine. Therefore, in the expression “opposition officielle”, the word “officielle” must be in the feminine. I would therefore ask that the person who writes this to proofread their text carefully so that the French is perfect, at least at this committee. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

Thank you, Ms. Folco.

This motion deals with the way we question witnesses. Are there any suggestions?

Ms. Barbot.

[Vivian Barbot, Bloc, Papineau, QC]

I suggest that we replace the words “que les témoins soient accordés”, which is grammatically incorrect, by the words “que l'on accorde aux témoins”. We also have to be careful with the wording in French.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

That's not the motion. The clerk tells me that this is the way we proceeded last year.