Evidence of meeting #1 for Official Languages in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Simon Larouche
Honourable members of the committee, I see a quorum.
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, cannot entertain points of order nor participate in debate.
We can now proceed with the election of the chair. Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the chair must be a member of the government party.
I am ready to receive motions for the chair.
Liberal
The Clerk
It has been moved by the Hon. Mauril Bélanger that Mr. Michael Chong 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. Michael Chong duly elected chair of the committee.
Before inviting Mr. Chong to take the chair, if the committee wishes, we will now proceed to the election of the vice-chairs.
Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the first vice-chair must be a member of the official opposition.
I am now prepared to receive motions for the first vice-chair.
The Clerk
It has been moved by Mr. Aubin that Mr. Yvon Godin be elected first vice-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. Yvon Godin duly elected first vice-chair of the committee.
Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the second vice-chair must be a member of an opposition party other than the official opposition.
I am now prepared to receive motions.
Conservative
Royal Galipeau Conservative Ottawa—Orléans, ON
Mr. Clerk, after lengthy consideration, I would like to nominate the Hon. Mauril Bélanger.
The Clerk
It has been moved by Mr. Royal Galipeau that Mr. Mauril Bélanger be elected second vice-chair of the committee.
Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
I have not said I am accepting.
I have a question. If I do not accept, what happens? Does the position stay vacant?
The Clerk
Unfortunately, I can only receive motions for the position of second vice-chair.
Conservative
John Weston Conservative West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country, BC
If Mr. Bélanger is our vice-chair, I have to ask him this question. Why is he sitting so far away from the other members? Don't you like us?
Liberal
The Clerk
I declare the motion carried and Mr. Mauril Bélanger duly elected second vice-chair.
I now invite the chair, Mr. Michael Chong to take the chair.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
First, I would like to thank you all for your confidence and for electing me chair of the committee.
Second, we have to pass the routine motions. So the clerk will circulate the motions that the committee passed last session. He will also circulate the routine motions that other committees used.
We're going to distribute two sets of routine motions. One set is the routine motions that were adopted by this committee in the last Parliament, and the other is a generic set of routine motions.
I suggest that we work from one particular copy so that we're all on the same page. I also suggest that we start with the first routine motion and have somebody suggest changes or suggest keeping it the same. It's up to the committee to decide what it would like to do.
Would the committee prefer to start with the routine motions that were adopted in the last Parliament as a working sheet for everyone? Yes, okay. We will do that.
We are working from the set of routine motions that were adopted in the last Parliament. We'll start sequentially so that we're all on the same page. There are 12 routine motions, and we'll begin with the first one.
Mr. Lauzon, you have the floor.
Conservative
Guy Lauzon Conservative Stormont—Dundas—South Glengarry, ON
Mr. Chair, if I may make a suggestion, I feel that these motions are more or less the same as in the previous Parliament. Are we going to change them? If not, perhaps we could pass them all together.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
We can adopt more than one routine motion at once, but I would point out that at least one routine motion needs to change. It's up to the committee--it doesn't have to change--but there is one routine motion that the committee may want to change, and that's the order of members in questioning of witnesses. It's the third-last routine motion.
We could adopt, if it's the wish of the committee, the first few motions.
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
That's right.
We could adopt the first nine routine motions in a single motion on the floor, then go to the discussion on the questioning of witnesses, and then discuss the last two motions together, as a third motion on the floor.
Monsieur Godin.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Mr. Chair, I would like us to take the time to read the motions. I do not like to rush through things because once motions are passed, we can't go back. We have new people on the committee. We have only just been provided with the document. We know the motions, of course, but I would like us to take a moment to read them. I would like to find out which motions you want to deal with first.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
The one dealing with the services of analysts from the Library of Parliament.
NDP
