Official Languages Committee on Feb. 5th, 2009

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Mr. Godin, we have lots of time this morning. We want to adopt the routine motions. We can vote on the amendment, but I must tell you that, before the motion can be adopted, I am going to suspend the meeting for five minutes. I agree that we should vote on the amendment.

(Amendment negatived)

Meeting suspended for five to ten minutes.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

We have to go to the Auditor General's lock-up. Come on. What are you doing?

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Fives minutes is fine. We are suspending because, instead of having sterile conversations in committee, we could actually come to an agreement.

[Carolyn Bennett, Liberal, St. Paul's, ON]

You don't have a consensus for that. We have to go to the.... Vote on it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Welcome back.

I would like to thank the members for taking.... I think it's good to have the time to discuss in an informal manner, as a committee.

Now we have a motion on the table.

Mr. Chong.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

I would like to make the following amendment:

That witnesses be given 10 minutes for this opening statement and that during the questioning of witnesses, in the first round, there will be five minutes allocated to the first questioner of each party in the following order: Liberal, Bloc Québécois, NDP, Conservative. In the second round, five minutes be allocated to questioners from the following parties in the following order: Liberal, Bloc Québécois, Conservative, NDP. In the third round, five minutes be allocated to questioners from the following parties in the following order: Liberal, Conservative, Bloc Québécois. In the fourth round, five minutes be allocated to questioners from the following parties in the following order: Conservative, Liberal, Bloc Québécois, NDP. In the fifth round, time permitting and if the members agree, the first round will be repeated with three minutes per questioner.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Chong.

I am prepared to hear comments from Mr. Chong's amendments.

Mr. Nadeau.

[Richard Nadeau, Bloc, Gatineau, QC]

Mr. Chair, we are going to opt to keep the status quo. We really like having seven minutes in the first round and we want to keep them. So we will be voting against Mr. Chong's amendment.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Are there any other comments on the amendments?

Seeing none, I call the question.

Mr. Rodriguez.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Since the NDP is losing a turn, could we not, in all fairness, put them higher in the suggested order during the previous round?

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

In which round? Hold on a moment. I have here, for the first round, the Liberal Party, the Bloc Québécois, the Conservative Party and the NDP. No, pardon me, that is for the second round.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

It is the same as usual, the LIberal Party, the Bloc Québécois, the NDP and the Conservative Party.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Okay, we will leave it as is.

Just a moment, let's let Mr. Rodriguez finish.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

It is Mr. Chong's amendment. We will let him continue.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

The order of the first round, which is a five-minute round, is as follows: Liberal Party, Bloc Québécois, NDP and Conservative Party. The second round, which is a five-minute round, is as follows: Liberal Party, Bloc Québécois, Conservative Party and NDP. The third round, which is a five-minute round, follows this order: Liberal Party, Conservative Party and Bloc Québécois. The fourth round, which is a five-minute round, is as follows: Conservative Party, Liberal Party, Bloc Québécois and NDP. If times allows, the fifth round, which is a three-minute round, will be as follows: Liberal Party, Bloc Québécois, NDP and Conservative Party.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you.

I now give the floor to Mr. Galipeau.

[Royal Galipeau, Conservative, Ottawa—Orléans, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I heard what my colleague Mr. Nadeau said and I would like to ask my friend Mr. Chong if he would take Mr. Nadeau's comments as a friendly suggestion. Would it be acceptable to keep the seven minutes he is proposing?

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

No, because we do not have enough time.

If we go through the first four rounds on my time, as I've proposed in the amendment, we will use up an hour and 15 minutes, and then if we get a chance at the fifth round, then we have an extra 12 minutes. So it's an hour and 27 minutes—an hour and a half—which then gives each member of the committee a chance to ask a question at least once.

If we give seven minutes to the first round, we'll never make it to the fifth round; there is just not enough time to do that after you hear witnesses and the like. So I do not want to change the first round to seven minutes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Chong. Your comments are always extremely clear.

Thank you also to Mr. Galipeau.

Are there any other comments on the amendments? We will now call the question on the amendment.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

I would like to keep Mr. Chong's motion, but move up the NDP in the fourth round so that it is not the last party. This will guarantee them a turn.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Are you suggesting changing the order of the fourth round?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Since the NDP is losing a round, I want to make sure he's able to speak in that round, so I want to put him higher.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Just a moment.

Order please. Just to be clear, this would be a subamendment.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

A subamendment to Mr. Chong's amendment.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Ultimately, you are suggesting we flip the names of the Liberal Party and the NDP. Is that right, Mr. Rodriguez?