Public Accounts Committee on May 8th, 2012

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

This is just to second the motion, Chair, and also to say that I like my coffee double-double.

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

If that's all it took, I'll gladly buy a double-double.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

I'll even add a little something if it will get us through these darn meetings.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

You don't need to add anything, no, no, no.

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

Well, it couldn't get any worse.

Monsieur Ravignat.

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

I don't have issues with the motion.

I have a question about the report: we're report-writing on what?

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

That's a fair question.

Alex, what's the one that we have teed up?

[Alex Smith, Committee Researcher]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

The committee had considered a report on the Public Accounts of Canada 2011. Some changes were made. The committee had wanted to see those changes before adopting the report. That's one thing for the committee.

The other is that the committee had done a study on Canada's economic action plan, or the audit of that. That draft is now available for the committee to consider.

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

And we would take it in that order.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

I'm sorry, I was distracted there. I missed that.

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

That's fine.

Alex, would you summarize that again quickly, please?

[Alex Smith]

Yes, Mr. Chair.

So for Public Accounts of Canada 2011, changes have been tracked for the committee to consider, and then Canada's economic action plan.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Given that I'm told that I may be substituting for Mr. Byrne again, could I get some background or a filler or some material from the clerk—

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

Of course.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

—so that I can make a useful contribution, please?

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

I can't guarantee that last part, but we can guarantee the material, sir.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

I'll guarantee the last part if you'll guarantee the first part. Is that fair?

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

There you go. There's a perfect partnership.

Monsieur Ravignat, you have the floor.

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

I would assume that we would also have time to discuss committee business at that meeting as well, right?

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

Well, now you've touched on something.

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

We do have to plan for the next meeting. The motion only deals with—

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

Here's where it gets a little tricky, colleagues. I don't want to split hairs, but I went out of my way to say that I was removing any question of whether it was public or in camera, and if somebody has a problem with it being in camera, I will take the responsibility and explain what is the practice of this committee. I'm very comfortable to do that.

However, given the debate we just had about whether committee business should be in public or in private, to now deem that we're going to do committee business in a meeting that I, as chair, have directed us into is just somewhat problematic, because it brings us back to that question of whether the committee wants to do committee business in public or in camera. If I call a meeting for committee business, it's my ruling that we de facto start in public and only go in camera on motion. Therefore, that piece would have been eliminated.

So that's my concern.

Your thoughts?

[Mathieu Ravignat, NDP, Pontiac, QC]

So you're just suggesting that we then do committee business on Tuesday, then.

At some point we're going to have to address what we do in the future.

[The Chair, NDP, David Christopherson]

Yes, either that or....

We have a bit of a backup plan on Tuesday.

The other thing we could do right now, which would be very positive, colleagues, is to reschedule the meeting that we deferred, where we had everybody ready to go.... What was the chapter, Clerk?

Yes, it was maintaining and repairing military vehicles. If you recall, we had that teed up and ready to go. We made a change when we brought in the Auditor General for a full session, which was much appreciated, but it's hanging out there.

If we could slide that in for next Tuesday, that would allow us to have a backup plan if the AG can't make it on Thursday. If he does make it on Thursday, it allows us to finish up our work on Thursday and have a game plan for the following Tuesday, in one neat move.

So that, colleagues, would be the easiest thing to do. That hearing has to happen. We've postponed it. It's from the last fall report, I believe. Again, we're getting a little bit behind on this.

That kind of a motion, an amendment to the motion, would really give us a nice sense of where we're going to be for at least the next two meetings.

You still have the floor, sir.