Official Languages Committee on Feb. 17th, 2016

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

That is correct. The parliamentary secretary is not an official member of the committee. That was a change brought in by the new government. He is a not a member of the committee, but rather an observer. It is a great pleasure for us to have Mr. Boissonnault take part in the committee. He is present, but he does not have the right to vote.

[Bernard Généreux, Conservative, Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, QC]

Will he attend all of the meetings?

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Yes, but not as a member of the committee. This is a new practice we have decided to adopt.

Mr. Boissonnault, did you want to say a few words?

[Randy Boissonnault, Liberal, Edmonton Centre, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Généreux.

I welcome all of you to your committee.

I am an observer here. I will attend all of the meetings. I am not entitled to vote. I will only have the right to speak when someone shares their speaking time with me. If ever there is some pressing matter I absolutely want to share with you, I will ask for one or two minutes of your time in order to speak.

We have work to do together to ensure that the government respects its official language obligations, and to foster the vitality of official language minority communities in Quebec and elsewhere throughout the country.

I look forward very much to working with the members and the senators.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you, Mr. Boissonnault.

Are there any further questions?

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Mr. Boissonnault is here as an observer, but will he also accompany us when we travel?

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

I did not look into that. Since he is not a member of the committee, his expenses would not be covered by the committee's budget.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

That is true. However, he is the parliamentary secretary.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

If the committee decides to invite the parliamentary secretary on one of its trips, he will have to get his money elsewhere.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Very well.

I asked the question because I too have been present here as parliamentary secretary. There has been a big change. I simply wanted to know if the parliamentary secretary would be coming with us when we travel.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

You wanted to know how things would work.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Yes.

In the past, we used to travel.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

If at a certain point we invite Randy Boissonnault to accompany us as observer on one of our trips, the committee will not be paying for his expenses.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

He will be there as parliamentary secretary.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

That is correct.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Fine.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

That is the situation. Perhaps the clerk could confirm that.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Mr. Chair, does that mean he's going to have to pay for his own lobster?

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Mr. Chair, I would simply like to make sure that we have approved the rotation that determines the members' speaking time. Earlier, one member suggested that people be given 7 minutes rather than 6. The motion carried. However, is the total in the document still 50 minutes?

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Yes, Mr. Samson. We agreed to limit speaking time to 6 minutes.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

So it will be 6 minutes, then 5 minutes, and 3 minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

It is 6 minutes, then 5 minutes, and then 3 minutes at the end of the second turn. It is set as such out in the document that is before you.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

I simply wanted to make sure that it had definitely been accepted.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

This has been a terrific first meeting. Once again, I thank you very much for your confidence in me. We will see each other again next Monday.

Thank you, everyone.

The meeting is adjourned.