Public Safety Committee on Oct. 3rd, 2006

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

I would actually prefer to hold her until we get to the second report. She has a great deal to contribute, given her experience. But in terms of what we're trying to deal with right now, with Commissioner Zaccardelli's testimony last Thursday and “who knew what”, she would not have been in the circle for that information; she would have been outside of it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

I tend to agree with you, Mr. Comartin. I think we need to be focused.

What do the rest of you feel? I think it would be best to focus on what we should focus on now.

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

With all due respect, we probably have two separate things to deal with here, and as Mr. Comartin said, I think we should deal with what is out there in the first report—what we've heard. I guess we're in the “he said, she said” situation here. These other issues are probably best dealt with after that second report, because it is just going to be dealing with those issues.

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

Yes. Are you okay with that, or how do you feel?

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

Well, the only thing is with respect to Shirley.... I'm sorry; I believe the analysts had a last name. I'm mispronouncing the last name.

[Philip Rosen]

It was Heafey.

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

She was the one who actually received the first complaints and would have been the one who.... What she did with them, who she talked to, how it was followed up are all very pertinent to past-tense considerations, and if we're looking at what happened and what went wrong, I think we're going to want to have the person who was complained to in front of us to understand what was done with those complaints.

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

I don't think anybody is disputing that. Let's just do the other ones first.

[Mark Holland, Liberal, Ajax—Pickering, ON]

I don't have a problem with doing the other ones first. It's just that if we're dividing this process into two rounds, what I thought I was hearing was that we were moving it to the second round, which was looking at Justice O'Connor's second report, looking forward.

I don't have a problem with her being deeper into the first round, which is looking at the past. My only comment is that she should be in that process of looking at the past.

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

Are there any other comments? Okay, we'll ask our clerk to try to sort this out and get people into a semblance of order.

For Thursday, have you heard anything concerning Bill C-12?

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

I'm told it shouldn't be a problem to have department people here; they just need a letter from the clerk.

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

All right. Can that all be done within two days?

[The Clerk]

Of course.

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

Of course. We are very efficient.

The third item of business was.... Yes?

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

So on Thursday we will have Bill C-12 and the Tanzanian delegation?

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

Yes. I envision that we'll have the officials on Bill C-12 for maybe an hour and 45 minutes, and then we can just ask them if they have any questions at the end of the meeting. We can allow maybe 15 minutes or half an hour, depending on how much time they need.

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

That's what my question was going to be about. The clerk had indicated some kind of meeting afterwards. Are we having a lunch or a social or something like that?

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

No, I don't think so. They don't expect that. They just want to observe this committee. As a matter of courtesy, we'd ask them if they have any comments or questions about what they saw here; it would all be part of the two-hour meeting.

Okay?

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

So they'll be here for a briefing on Thursday?

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

Yes; that will be October 5, on Bill C-12. We are going to invite them.

Other groups--the Canadian Red Cross, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities--have asked to come as witnesses on Bill C-12. In future meetings, would we like to hear from them as well? Some of these groups are very supportive, I think. Should we ask the clerk to contact these people and try to work them in? We may be dealing with several things at the same time here.

[Rick Norlock, Conservative, Northumberland—Quinte West, ON]

Mr. Chair, I think the Red Cross is definitely needed. No matter what happens in these types of situations, they're always there; I think we need to know how they will dovetail with this legislation.

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

Sure, okay; we'll invite the Canadian Red Cross. You're all okay with that?

What about the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and the Federation of Canadian Municipalities?

[Joe Comartin, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

I definitely think we should have the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Mr. Ménard was with me at an international conference in the spring. The theme that kept coming up was that in any emergency--whether it's a pandemic, a natural disaster, or a terrorist act--the initial responders are at the municipal level, so we need to hear if they're comfortable with this legislation.

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

All right, so there are two witnesses.