Public Safety Committee on Nov. 13th, 2007

[Serge Ménard, Bloc, Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC]

I think that we can indeed continue to proceed as we did during the previous session. However, I think that at some point, with unanimous consent, we could entrust a complicated question precisely to the type of subcommittee you were suggesting. If we feel that a question merits in-depth discussion but do not have enough time to examine it ourselves, we could certainly strike a temporary subcommittee. That is why I would be in agreement with the chairman's suggestion that we keep the same rule as during the previous session.

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

Thank you, Monsieur Ménard.

Did somebody else have their hand up?

Mr. Cullen.

[Roy Cullen, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Mr. Chair, in the last session we dealt with things in the committee as a whole, and I think it worked well. In fact, I don't recall a steering committee meeting. If there was one, I obviously missed it.

The problem is that if you leave it in, when does it meet and when does it not meet? If you don't have any subcommittee, then it's clear. If the chair wants to bring people in to discuss some feature or proposal, the chair can do that. Once you leave it in, it is in never-never land as to when the committee meets and on what issues.

I don't think we need one. We didn't have one in the past. We might have had one formally, but informally I don't think we ever used it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

Ms. Priddy.

[Penny Priddy, NDP, Surrey North, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

To the member, I just wonder if there is a rationale you can give to me very quickly, in 30 seconds, for why you've brought this forward.

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

All I know is that it's being put before all the committees, and I think it simply quantifies some of these things to try to make for consistency amongst committees.

[Penny Priddy, NDP, Surrey North, BC]

Thank you.

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

And at the end of the day, I'm certain that each committee will make its own rules.

But I think that was the intent.

[Penny Priddy, NDP, Surrey North, BC]

Right. Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

Mr. Cullen.

[Roy Cullen, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

Just to make another brief comment—and nothing of this is against Dave and the parliamentary secretary—I've been a parliamentary secretary and know that in some committees there's an objection to having the parliamentary secretary on the steering committee, because they're privy to a lot of information. The feeling is they could try to drive the agenda in a certain way the committee members as a whole may not appreciate. I know I've been excluded in the past from steering committees when I was a parliamentary secretary. So I just think it's that way.

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Maybe you were partisan.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

Okay, we won't comment on your past experiences. But on this committee we've often included the parliamentary secretary because he had insights as to what legislation would be coming down—approximately when—and it helped the committee to decide. That's why he was part of the committee that decided.

Go ahead.

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

If we move to the next one on the reduced quorum, I think the addition there was to add that at least one member of the government be present, but also to limit the time that the committee had to wait for the meeting to be able to move ahead—because I don't think we've ever had that time in there. So for those people....

[Sue Barnes, Liberal, London West, ON]

But why is it outside the parliamentary precinct?

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

Because I think we're going to be moving the committee.

Perhaps the clerk can tell us, but I think we're going to be moving to different places, aren't we?

[The Clerk]

Not to my knowledge.

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

No?

[Sue Barnes, Liberal, London West, ON]

I don't think we should be meeting outside the parliamentary precinct unless we have an order to travel.

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

I thought we were going back to 131 Queen Street, as we'd heard.

[The Clerk]

That's a new building, but it's considered part of the parliamentary precinct, sir, for the purposes of committee meetings.

[Roy Cullen, Liberal, Etobicoke North, ON]

What if we had any consultations and we travelled? Is that what you're meaning?

[The Chair, Conservative, Garry Breitkreuz]

Yes, I think it would apply to that.

[Dave MacKenzie, Conservative, Oxford, ON]

And that might very well be.