Evidence of meeting #7 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 part.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Members have the right to raise points of order if they have questions about the decision of the chair, and I respect that. I'm trying to be fair here. Mr. Godin was perfectly within his rights to raise that point of order.
Monsieur Bélanger.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Mr. Chairman, I will challenge the chair on that, because I think the interpretation you give to the rules is not an accurate one.
Conservative
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
All right, the chair has been challenged.
I'm going to pass the floor to the clerk to conduct the vote to see whether or not the chair's decision will be sustained.
The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Simon Larouche
It is proposed that the chair's decision be sustained.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Okay, we have a tie. The chair will break the decision in favour of sustaining my own decision, to be consistent.
(Ruling of the chair sustained)
We'll move on now. We have the motion as amended on the floor.
The motion reads as follows:
That the Committee accepts the request of Mr. Jean Malavoy, General Secretary of the Table de concertation du livre franco-ontarien, to appear before the Committee and that this meeting be held on December 13, 2011.
Is there any discussion?
Seeing none, I'm going to call the question on the motion as amended.
(Motion as amended agreed to)
Thank you very much.
We'll now move on to the second motion I received, which was from Monsieur Gourde.
Mr. Gourde, you have the floor.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I would like my motion to be put to a vote. It reads as follows:
That the committee invite the Commissioner for Official Languages to appear regarding the Annual Report on Official Languages 2010-2011 and that this meeting be held on October 20, 2011.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Okay. Would anyone like to discuss Mr. Gourde's motion?
Mr. Bélanger.
Liberal
Mauril Bélanger Liberal Ottawa—Vanier, ON
Mr. Chair, since there is so much confidence here, I would like to move an amendment.
I find it a bit inappropriate for us to specify a date. It doesn't give the clerk much flexibility. We don't even know if the commissioner will be available that day.
I would prefer to propose that it be held that on October 20 or October 25, and that the commissioner be invited to appear before the committee for the entire meeting, not just for one hour, and that the meeting be televised.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
We have an amendment moved by Mr. Bélanger, proposing that the meeting be held on October 20 or 21, 2011…
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Pardon me. So the meeting would take place on October 20 or October 25, 2011. It would be televised and would be a two-hour meeting.
Is that okay? Is there...?
Monsieur Godin.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
I am in favour of that. I think that it's very important that we do not limit the commissioner to one hour when we invite him to appear.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Okay. Would any other committee members like to discuss this amendment?
Mr. Gourde.
Conservative
Jacques Gourde Conservative Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC
Mr. Bélanger's amendments seem reasonable. We are giving the commissioner more flexibility by offering him the choice of appearing on either October 20 or October 25, depending on his availability. I have no problem with that. I think that two hours is fine. I have no problem with that either. And we have no objection to a televised meeting.
So we do support Mr. Bélanger's amendment, with pleasure.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
I'll call the vote.
All those in favour of the amendment moved by Mr. Bélanger?
(Amendment agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])
We're back to the main motion as amended.
Is there any discussion?
Seeing none, all those in favour of the amended motion?
(Motion as amended agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])
Now, I'm assuming that
Mr. Gourde and Mr. Bélanger do not want to move the two other motions.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Michael Chong
Yes, Mr. Gourde gave me a notice on a second motion.
If you're not going to move them, then we'll just drop them.
Conservative