Official Languages Committee on Feb. 15th, 2011

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Without referring to the specific section in our rules and procedures, I would say that we are free to ask questions of our witnesses, as they are free to provide us with the answers they so wish.

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

Then let them answer.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Rightly so, and if you are done with your procedural question, Mr. Godin, Mr. Bélanger will be able to pursue his line of questioning.

I will restart the clock.

Mr. Bélanger, you have the floor.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

You were going to say something, Madame.

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

I thought maybe I was wrong, but Monsieur Godin and Monsieur Bélanger asked two different things.

Monsieur Godin wanted to know whether we would be ready to deliver a bill on time if asked to do so by the minister. We said yes.

Mr. Bélanger, you asked us for the status. I can't answer that.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

My question was, has the department done whatever work it needs to do to enable its minister to table legislation or give notice of legislation?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

We have done the work. We have done work our minister has asked for. Whether that's everything that's needed to introduce the legislation, the government will have to decide. There might be more work needed.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

I respect that.

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

So that's what I'm saying.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

I understand the relationship.

Are you at liberty to tell us when that was completed, whatever work the department needed to do?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

Not only am I not at liberty to tell you, I'm not sure if I know when the government wishes to proceed. It's a House plan. When they want to introduce a bill, I'm not sure.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

I understand all that, and I understand that you may have to bounce it off the justice department and that cabinet has to decide when it's going to table. It sets the agenda. I have no problem with that.

My question refers to whatever work the Department of Transport needs to do to enable the minister to move. You've now confirmed that the work has been completed. Are you at liberty to tell us when that work was completed?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

I said we completed the work that the minister asked us to do on this bill. Should there be any additional work that the minister wishes to do, we shall do that as well.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Can you tell us when?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

I'm not at liberty to give the timeline of government's internal workings.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

But as to when the department has completed what it needs to do, are you at liberty to tell us that?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

No, sir.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Thank you.

Over to you.

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

I find that almost contemptuous. The Commissioner of Official Languages is saying that as a department you should participate in an intention to change the Air Canada Public Participation Act. You said you'd done it, and now you won't tell us when you did it so that we can put pressure on the minister to do what the Commissioner of Official Languages said.

Could you please give us a date as to when you did that work and sent it to the minister?

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

With all due respect, there's no intention of being contemptuous. We work for and give our advice to our minister. The government makes decisions and—

[Brian Murphy, Liberal, Moncton—Riverview—Dieppe, NB]

I'm not asking about government decisions. When did you prepare the work? It's as simple as that.

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

I am not at liberty to talk about when our work is done on all these things. I'm really not trying to be disrespectful, but I'm in a difficult situation when you to ask me which stage of....

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Deputy Minister.

With regard to the procedural issue that was raised, I would like to thank the clerk for having drawn my attention to the section dealing with the questioning of witnesses, as found on page 1068 of House of Commons Procedure and Practice (O'Brien and Bosc), which states:

Particular attention is paid to the questioning of public servants. The obligation of a witness to answer all questions put by the committee must be balanced against the role that public servants play in providing confidential advice to their ministers. The rule of the public servant has traditionally been viewed in relation to the implementation and administration of government policy, rather than the determination of what that policy should be. Consequently, public servants have been excused from commenting on the policy decisions made by the government.

I would invite committee members to read the following paragraphs, which justify the decision I took earlier.

On that note, I would ask Ms. Guay to pursue the discussion.

[Monique Guay, Bloc, Rivière-du-Nord, QC]

Oh! Things are certainly heating up.

I have a question for you in that regard. Essentially, you are telling us that, once you have completed work on the bill that was requested of you, it is the minister who decides when to table it in the House. Is that correct? That is all I want to know. If you are saying that the work has been done, that means that things are in the minister's hands, and he will decide when the bill will be tabled in the House. It is not up to you to decide, but rather up to him.

[Yaprak Baltacioglu]

The government decides. It's not only one minister; cabinet makes decisions.

Let me just be very clear. When I said the work is done, we do the work that was asked from us. There may be more work needed. I'm not giving any status of where this is.