Evidence of meeting #31 for Public Safety and National Security in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was business.
A recording is available from Parliament.
3:35 p.m.
The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Roger Préfontaine
Honourable members, I see a quorum.
Your first item of business is the election of a chair. I'm ready to receive motions to that effect.
Mr. MacKenzie.
3:35 p.m.
The Clerk
It is moved by Mr. MacKenzie that Kevin Sorenson be elected chair of the committee.
Are there further motions?
Madame Mourani.
3:35 p.m.
The Clerk
We're not there yet. We're now electing the chair.
There being no other motions, I declare Mr. Sorenson duly elected chair of the committee.
(Motion agreed to)
3:35 p.m.
Some hon. members
Hear, hear!
3:35 p.m.
The Clerk
We'll proceed to the election of the two vice-chairs, the first one being from the official opposition. I'm ready to receive motions to that effect.
Mr. MacKenzie, you have the floor.
3:35 p.m.
The Clerk
Mr. MacKenzie has moved that Mr. Holland be elected first vice-chair.
3:35 p.m.
The Clerk
It is seconded by Mr. Davies.
Are there other motions?
There being no other motions, I declare Mr. Holland duly elected first vice-chair.
(Motion agreed to)
3:35 p.m.
Some hon. members
Hear, hear!
3:35 p.m.
The Clerk
The committee will proceed to the election of the second vice-chair, who must be a member from another opposition party.
Madame Mourani.
3:35 p.m.
The Clerk
Mrs. Mourani has nominated Mr. Davies.
Are there other nominations?
There being no other nominations, I declare Mr. Davies duly elected second vice-chair of the committee.
(Motion agreed to)
3:35 p.m.
Some hon. members
Hear, hear!
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
I want to thank you for the confidence in the election.
I want to welcome each one of you here. I am a new member of this committee, and we have a number of other new members as well: Monsieur Gaudet; Ms. Mendes, who is not here today; and Mr. Lobb. I think that would be about it. Many of you have been involved in this committee before, and you have done a lot of good work. We want to continue doing some good work.
I've had the privilege, in the past, of serving not on the public safety committee but of being the critic in opposition for the.... In those days we were called the “solicitor general” committee--Marlene will remember that--which was later basically transformed into public safety and national security. After leaving as solicitor general critic, I became vice-chair at foreign affairs and then chair for four-and-a-half years, and then, lately, chair of the Afghanistan committee.
It's kind of good to come back to prisons, parole, police, and CSIS--or at least that's what we used to have. I think Marlene served with me on the national security committee that Prime Minister Martin struck in, I believe, 2004 or 2005, or one of those years. So I've had a little bit of service on these kinds of issues, and I certainly look forward to serving as your chair.
Mr. Holland, I look forward to working with you as vice-chair, and also with Mr. Davies.
To each one of you, I would like to see a committee where there's a degree of cooperation, integrity, and getting some work done. We've been given a number of pieces of legislation that will eventually make their way to us. When you look at the Standing Orders, the job of this committee, although we are masters of our own destiny, is to do the business of what the House sends to us. So we look forward to that.
Mr. MacKenzie.
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
Dave MacKenzie Conservative Oxford, ON
Thank you, Mr. Sorenson.
We do appreciate your comments, because I think they're appropriate.
I have a motion, as follows:
That the committee proceeds in the following manner; On October 6, 2010 and October 11, 2010 the committee considers its draft report on Correctional Facilities: Mental Illness--
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kevin Sorenson
Mr. MacKenzie, as far as your motion is concerned, is this motion dealing with future business?
3:40 p.m.
Liberal
Mark Holland Liberal Ajax—Pickering, ON
I have two points of order.
First, in order to deal with future business, we typically deal with it in camera. So we would need a motion to go in camera. Were we to go in camera, I would have no problem having debate on setting the agenda. But you can't just jump into in camera.
The second point of order, more to the point, is that the committee had not yet agreed to move to future business. We would have to commence future business before we could hear anything. There was nothing placed on the agenda about future business. I have no problem dealing with future business, but you cannot commence future business without first getting to it.
It's not on the agenda. I don't have a problem going into future business, but if we're going to go into future business, (a) we have to agree to go there, and (b) future business is almost always done by an in camera motion.
I'd be happy to make the motion that we move to other business, if you give me that--
3:40 p.m.
Conservative
3:40 p.m.
Liberal
Mark Holland Liberal Ajax—Pickering, ON
Right. Well, when you've dealt with it, I'm just offering....
