Official Languages Committee on May 4th, 2016

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

What, it's not on him?

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

Jean-Marc Fournier is your friend, after all. He could offer to pay for us.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

I don't think he's going to cover everyone's meal. He'll pay for the drinks.

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

I have friends who work with the House leader. Maybe we can work something out.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

If there are incidentals of that nature, do I have the committee's permission to go ahead?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

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

I have no problem with that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Now let's deal with the motions.

The bells calling us to the House will ring soon, so I need the committee's permission to continue sitting for about 15 minutes while the bells sound. Since we are so close to the House, we could continue our meeting for 15 minutes in order to deal with the motions before the committee today.

Let's get right to it with François Choquette's motion.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Chair, I will put forward my first motion.

I'm not sure if the committee decided on this, but we don't have any fruit or cookies. I know Mr. Arseneault and I would appreciate having some refreshments, but I'm not sure whether the rest of the committee members feel the same. I don't know what everyone else thinks. Normally, we are allowed to have refreshments during committee meetings.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

You can propose a motion to that effect.

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

I'd like some cake.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Great idea. I heard you propose the motion. I am looking at you, and I declare the motion carried. The clerk—

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Mr. Chair, I'd like to say something, if I could.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Yes, of course.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Cookies are nice, but I'd like to have some fruit, as well.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

I did say fruit too.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you. I wouldn't want to have just cookies.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

I don't eat cookies, either.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

I understand.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

And let's not forget the Saint-Justin water.

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

Oh yes, we have to have the Saint-Justin water.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Motion carried. I will ask the clerk to arrange to have those refreshments at future meetings.

Now, it's back over to Mr. Choquette.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The purpose of my motion is to invite Ms. Foote or senior officials to appear before the committee. The idea was to have them here on May 11, but unfortunately, my motion was a bit late in being dealt with. My thinking when I put forward the motion in the first place was that we could hear from the representatives and wrap up our study on the translation bureau today. I was thinking that senior officials could have appeared today, enabling us to wrap up our examination of the translation bureau today. As everyone knows, we have spent a lot of time on this issue, and I realize most of us are ready to move on to something else. But it would really be a shame not to meet with representatives from the department responsible for the translation bureau, and that's why I proposed the motion.

I put forward another motion that was postponed until later, but I'm not sure whether a date for that has been scheduled. The motion deals with the Treasury Board.

It also talks about question Q-53 on the Order Paper, which concerns the translation bureau, as well.

If we do things one at a time, we first need to wrap up our study of the translation bureau. We could do it once the report is done, as I realize the report will be written soon. If the committee members are in agreement, I would still like us to meet with senior officials from Public Services and Procurement Canada, if the minister, herself, is not available. We could ask them about their plans for the translation bureau.

And it would be great if we could hear from Treasury Board officials at the same time. We could meet for two hours, spending one hour with the Treasury Board representatives and the other hour with the Public Services and Procurement Canada senior officials. I don't imagine we'd need them here for more than an hour.

I know we're in the habit of making decisions through consensus rather than a vote. I am putting the suggestion out there, but if we need to vote on it, then we will.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Before we get to everyone's comments, I have a piece of news to share. It's settled, Minister Scott Brison will appear before the committee on May 30.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Very good.

If we could also have senior officials from Public Services and Procurement Canada appear on May 30, I would be happy.