Evidence of meeting #32 for Public Safety and National Security in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was facility.

A recording is available from Parliament.

On the agenda

MPs speaking

Also speaking

Clerk of the Committee  Mr. Roger Préfontaine
Howard Sapers  Correctional Investigator, Office of the Correctional Investigator
Nathalie Neault  Director of Investigations, Office of the Correctional Investigator

11:05 a.m.

The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Roger Préfontaine

Honourable members, I see a quorum.

We can now proceed to the election of the chair. I am ready to receive motions to that effect.

Mr. Holland.

11:05 a.m.

Liberal

Mark Holland Liberal Ajax—Pickering, ON

After being heavily lobbied by many different candidates, I've decided to nominate Garry Breitkreuz for the position of chair.

11:05 a.m.

The Clerk

It has been moved by Mr. Holland that Garry Breitkreuz be elected as chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

11:05 a.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

11:05 a.m.

The Clerk

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Breitkreuz duly elected chair of the committee.

11:05 a.m.

Some hon. members

Hear, hear!

11:05 a.m.

The Clerk

I am also prepared to receive motions for the first vice-chair.

Mr. Breitkreuz.

11:05 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Garry Breitkreuz

I'd like to nominate Mr. Mark Holland for that position, please.

11:05 a.m.

The Clerk

It has been moved by Mr. Breitkreuz that Mark Holland be elected as first vice-chair of the committee.

Are there further motions?

Monsieur Ménard.

11:05 a.m.

Bloc

Serge Ménard Bloc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC

I nominate Don Davies for the position of second vice-chair.

11:05 a.m.

The Clerk

This is the election for the position of first vice-chair.

11:05 a.m.

Bloc

Serge Ménard Bloc Marc-Aurèle-Fortin, QC

I thought it was done.

11:05 a.m.

The Clerk

There being no further motions, is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

11:05 a.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

11:05 a.m.

The Clerk

I declare the motion carried and Mark Holland duly elected first vice-chair of the committee.

11:05 a.m.

Some hon. members

Hear, hear!

11:05 a.m.

The Clerk

For election as second vice-chair, it has been moved by Mr. Ménard that Don Davies be elected as second vice-chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions?

There being no further motions, is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

11:05 a.m.

Some hon. members

Agreed.

11:05 a.m.

The Clerk

I declare the motion carried and Don Davies duly elected second vice-chair of the committee.

11:05 a.m.

Some hon. members

Hear, hear!

11:05 a.m.

The Clerk

I would invite the chair, Mr. Breitkreuz, to take the chair.

11:05 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Garry Breitkreuz

I would like to thank the committee again for their confidence in placing me in this position. I pledge to do my best, and if you ever have any concerns or anything you need to discuss with me, please contact me. I'm here to serve the committee. Again, I appreciate your support in that endeavour.

I'd like at this point to invite our analysts, Lyne Casavant and Tanya Dupuis, to please join me at the front here.

We have always enjoyed your services. You have done an excellent job, and thank you for being here.

11:05 a.m.

Some hon. members

Hear, hear!

11:05 a.m.

Conservative

The Chair Conservative Garry Breitkreuz

We did not send out a notice that we could do a few things at this meeting, maybe just to get on with our agenda, so I have suggested that we invite Mr. Sapers, the correctional investigator, to the committee. One of the things we wanted to do was discuss future travel. We had decided something earlier this year, and because of other events beyond our control, it was put off. He could talk to us about our itinerary and our plans.

If you wish to do that, we could do it. If you wish to go in camera to do it, we can do that as well. I leave it up to the committee at this point.

First of all, would you like to do some business this morning? Do you have other commitments, or can we continue with our meeting and maybe talk about this?

11:10 a.m.

Liberal

Mark Holland Liberal Ajax—Pickering, ON

Mr. Chair, because we didn't have the knowledge that Mr. Sapers was going to be available to speak to it today, because you obviously weren't chair and therefore couldn't send out a notice, I think it would make sense to talk today about the trip, and perhaps, if Mr. Sapers were willing, to get his input on it.

My suggestion, however, because I think there are a lot of matters referring to our study, would be that with more notice and more opportunity to prepare, we ask, if he's willing, to have Mr. Sapers back on a different occasion to speak to do that, because committee members really haven't had the opportunity to be aware this was going to happen, and neither has the public. There was obviously no public notice given of the fact that Mr. Sapers was going to be here today, and I think there's a significant amount of public interest in both the issue and also the question surrounding the things we're going to be studying.