Evidence of meeting #1 for Subcommittee on Private Members' Business in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was section.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Michel Bédard  Committee Researcher
Clerk of the Committee  Mr. Olivier Champagne

12:25 p.m.

NDP

Philip Toone NDP Gaspésie—Îles-de-la-Madeleine, QC

We're not in camera, right, so....

12:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht

Now we've just decided it's votable.

12:25 p.m.

Liberal

Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC

Our discussion would be taken into account.

12:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht

Now we're moving on to Bill C-307.

12:25 p.m.

Committee Researcher

Michel Bédard

Bill C-307 would amend the Canada Labour Code with respect to the health and safety of pregnant or nursing employees. It would allow them to avail themselves of provincial occupational health and safety legislation.

This item does not concern questions that are outside federal jurisdiction; it does not clearly violate provisions of the Constitution, including the Charter; it does not concern questions that are substantially the same as ones already voted on by the House of Commons in the current session; and, it does not concern questions that are currently before the House as items of government business.

12:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht

Does anyone have any questions or comments?

I see none.

We'll move on to Motion No. 271.

12:25 p.m.

Committee Researcher

Michel Bédard

Motion 271 recognizes the importance of the Port of Quebec as a hub of international trade.

This item does not concern questions that are outside federal jurisdiction; it does not clearly violate the Constitution, including the Charter; it does not concern questions that are substantially the same as ones already voted on by the House of Commons; and, it does not concern questions that are currently before the House as items of government business.

12:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht

Does anyone have any concerns?

I see none.

Okay. Motion No. 271 is considered votable.

Now I need to formalize this subcommittee's work.

The first motion will be regarding the ones that we've deemed votable. The only item we're excluding here is Bill C-292, and we'll come to that later. The subcommittee will present a report listing those items that it has determined should not be designated as non-votable and recommending that they should be considered by the House. These are the ones that will proceed.

All in favour of that motion?

(Motion agreed to)

The second motion is that the chair report the subcommittee's finding that Bill C-292 is non-votable to the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs as soon as possible.

Does everyone agree?

(Motion agreed to)

That's the action of our committee today.

That meeting will be on Thursday.

Is that when we report?

12:25 p.m.

The Clerk

Possibly: it has to be within five sitting days.

12:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht

It says “as soon as possible”.

Is there any other business that we need to deal with as a subcommittee?

Okay. Thank you for your cooperation.

Thanks to our analyst and our clerk for their good work.

Mr. Reid.

12:25 p.m.

Conservative

Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON

If we're thinking of reporting to the full committee, normally the transcripts of a subcommittee aren't ready that quickly, but I think it would be helpful to the members of the committee if we could have the transcripts of that section.

12:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht

Of that section of the discussion?

12:25 p.m.

Conservative

Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON

That's right.

12:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht

Okay. I think we'll be able to work that through.

12:25 p.m.

Liberal

Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC

I don't understand.

12:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht

The clerk.... For the section on Bill C-292, the bill that was rejected as being votable, it's that they have the transcript of the discussion surrounding the reasons for that bill being considered non-votable, to have it available to the full PROC membership so they can understand our rationale in arriving at that decision.

12:25 p.m.

Liberal

Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC

And the other discussions we had are not reported...?

12:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht

Well, they're all available, but it's to print that one section specifically for the benefit of PROC, because PROC will not be dealing with the other items.

12:25 p.m.

Liberal

Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC

Can we do the same for the other bills? Why only this bill?

12:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht

Okay. Pocedure and House Affairs will not be dealing with any of the bills that we discussed today because—

12:25 p.m.

Liberal

Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC

Okay.

12:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht

—they have already gone to the House. But that one particular bill comes back to this committee for discussion, assuming the mover wants to appeal. Based on that, it would be helpful for some of the committee to know about some of the discussion that occurred surrounding the decision we arrived at. I think that was Mr. Reid's motivation. Are we in agreement with that?

12:25 p.m.

Liberal

Stéphane Dion Liberal Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC

Oui.

12:25 p.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Harold Albrecht

Thank you.

Okay. The meeting is adjourned.