Public Accounts Committee on May 4th, 2006

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

Thank you very much, Mr. Wrzesnewskyj.

The next item of business, colleagues, is the routine motions, if I can say a few words. They're been circulated. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that all but the last one are extremely non-contentious. It's something the committee deals with each and every year. I propose, if it's the will of the committee, to deal with them fairly quickly, and then perhaps we may want to leave the last one until the next meeting.

Does anyone have any difficulty with that?

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

You want to leave the last one for the next meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

You may wish to adopt it now, but again, the caucuses may want to look at it.

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

Why don't we have a discussion? That might be more fair, if we're not ready to make a decision.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

That's on the last one.

Colleagues, what I propose is to deal with all routine motions, and I invite a motion. I propose that all routine motions, except the last one specifically dealing with time allocation, be dealt with by this committee now.

Mr. Sauvageau.

[Benoît Sauvageau, Bloc, Repentigny, QC]

I agree with what you've said, except in the case of the last two motions. If you have no objections, I'd like to quickly review the notice of motion provision.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

That's agreeable with the committee.

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

Will we adopt them all with just one motion?

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

I think that's the way to do it--except for the last two.

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

The one question I have is on the reduced quorum, which I think is the third item. If I recall, in the previous Parliaments we dropped quorum down to five. If after 15 minutes there was nobody within the quorum, we dropped it down to three. It seems to me we went along those lines.

Do we just go down to three right away?

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

I'll consult with the clerk.

Mr. Williams, according to the information from the clerk, what is present here is what we adopted last time.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

This reflects what was there last time. At the risk of kicking off the debate, on the last item--I guess the clerk is different, so the corporate memory is much with Mr. Williams--it seems to me that toward the latter part of the last Parliament we did incorporate the five minutes for the NDP into the second round.

So from a procedural point of view, Chair, I'm just wondering if the starting point, as you just said, shouldn't be where we were last time. Last time the five minutes wasn't optional, it was built in. If I can make the pitch, certainly with a caucus that's 50% bigger, at the very least the starting point should be where we were last time.

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

That sounds quite reasonable, Mr. Chairman, but I don't know whether the Progressive Conservative Party is entitled to some time here. Is that a typo, or has somebody made a Freudian slip here?

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

It's definitely wrong; there is nothing progressive about it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

There are no Progressive Conservative Party members here.

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

Conservative Party.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

Previous members?

[John Williams, Conservative, Edmonton—St. Albert, AB]

It's the Conservative Party of Canada, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

I recommend that issue be dealt with at the next meeting, and perhaps the steering committee can.... If that's okay with you, Mr. Christopherson.

If it's okay with the committee, we will now invite a motion dealing with all the motions except the last two, specifically notice of motions—that's the 48-hour requirement—and the part dealing with time allocation. The first eight will be dealt with as one aggregate motion, if someone is prepared to make that motion.

[An hon. member]

I so move.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

(Motion agreed to) [See Minutes of Proceedings]

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

At this point I will ask the researchers to come to the table. I will ask the clerk and the researchers to introduce themselves, starting with the new researcher.

[Alex Smith, Committee Researcher]

My name is Alex Smith.

[Brian O'Neal, Committee Researcher]

My name is Brian O'Neal.

[The Chair, Liberal, Shawn Murphy]

Of course, Brian has been with us for many years.