Evidence of meeting #1 for Official Languages in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Do you want to split the proposal?
We could vote on the first part and then on the second part, one after the other.
Would that work?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
The clerk has joined us. I think it would be good to come in with the amendments. We will vote on the amendments and then we will vote on the motion as amended.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
Exactly.
Do you want me to read the first part again and then the second part, so that we can vote each time?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
No, I would rather you read the amendment you want to propose to this motion.
Bloc
Mario Beaulieu Bloc La Pointe-de-l'Île, QC
That witnesses be given seven and a half minutes for their opening statement; that, to the extent possible, witnesses provide the Committee with their opening statement 72 hours in advance; and that, at the discretion of the Chair, during the questioning of witnesses in the first round, there be allocated six minutes for the first questioner of each party as follows: Conservative Party Liberal Party Bloc Québécois New Democratic Party; For the second and subsequent rounds, the order and time for questions be as follows: Conservative Party, five minutes Liberal Party, five minutes Bloc Québécois, two and a half minutes New Democratic Party, two and a half minutes Conservative Party, five minutes Liberal Party, five minutes.
Clerk of the Committee
Mr. Chair, we have an amendment before us that has a number of different parts. Some might be strict and say that each part is an amendment in itself.
Mrs. Lalonde suggested that we read the final version of your amendment, Mr. Beaulieu, but that we vote on each of its parts. This can certainly be done if the chair wishes to do so.
Is that the case, Mr. Chair?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Yes, absolutely, and I am pleased to do so. I think that would work for members of the committee as well.
Clerk of the Committee
So there will be a vote on Mr. Beaulieu's amendment. The first part of the amendment states that the witnesses would speak for seven and a half minutes instead of 10 minutes. Does the committee agree?
According to the House motion of September 23, if there is clear consent in the committee, the vote is deemed to be in favour. Otherwise, we have to proceed to a recorded vote.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
I see one member of the committee objects, so we'll have to have a recorded vote, Madam Clerk.
Clerk of the Committee
The Clerk of the Committee, Ms. Ménard, will call the question.
(Motion agreed to: yeas 7; nays 4).
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
The witnesses will have seven and a half minutes to make their presentations.
Mr. Duguid, you have the floor.
Liberal
Terry Duguid Liberal Winnipeg South, MB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have a question for the clerk. We were going alphabetically during the first round of voting. I notice we are now going by party. What is the usual procedure? It's just to set expectations for the committee.
Clerk of the Committee
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Normally the clerk uses a predetermined voting sheet, which we just did. The first votes did not follow that format because we did not have an elected chair yet. Since the committee now has a chair, the voting sheet will be used from now on.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Thank you for your comment.
Ms. Ménard, since we have already adopted the part about the speaking time, we have to vote on the other part of the motion.
The Clerk
The next vote is on the second part. It is about the time allotted to each questioner in the second round.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
Let's see if there's a consensus on that. If not, we will have a recorded vote.
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
Mr. Chair, I believe Mr. Beaulieu added one more item to the amendment to the motion moved at the very beginning. It had to do with the 72-hour time limit. Madam Clerk, I don't know how you position this in terms of the vote. I'm just asking the question.
Clerk of the Committee
There seemed to be a consensus that 72 hours was the best possible time frame. However, we can certainly take a vote if the committee wishes to do so.
Does the committee agree to the 72-hour time frame?
Since there is agreement, Ms. Ménard can now proceed with the vote on changing the order.
The Clerk
Is there consensus or do I have to take a recorded vote?
I see that there is no consensus on this. So we are going to have a recorded vote. I should point out that this is the second part of the motion about changing the order of the parties.
(Amendment agreed to: yeas 12; nays 0)
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Emmanuel Dubourg
The amendment proposed by Mr. Beaulieu was adopted. We'll now go to the motion as amended.