Evidence of meeting #1 for Status of Women in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
The Clerk of the Committee Ms. Danielle Bélisle
Honourable members, I see a quorum. I am ready to proceed with electing a chair.
I'm ready to receive motions to that effect.
Madam Minna.
The Clerk
Moved by Ms. Maria Minna that Ms. Ratansi be elected chair of the committee.
Are there any other motions?
Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
The Clerk
Mrs. Ratansi is the duly elected chair of the committee.
Now, before inviting her to take the chair, if the committee wishes, we could proceed to the election of the vice-chairs. We might as well.
With the vice-chairs of this committee, the first vice-chair is somebody from the government side. Do I have any motions?
Madam Boucher.
Conservative
The Clerk
Moved by the Honourable Sylvie Boucher that Ms. Davidson be elected vice-chair of the committee.
Are there any other motions?
(Motion agreed to)
Madam Davidson, you're elected first vice-chair of the committee.
Now we're looking for a second vice-chair from the opposition, but from other than the official opposition. Do I have any motions?
Madam Demers.
The Clerk
It is moved by Ms. Demers that Ms. Mathyssen be elected second vice-chair.
Are there any other motions to that effect?
As there is no other motion, Ms. Mathyssen is elected second vice-chair of the committee.
(Motion agreed to)
I invite Ms. Ratansi to take the chair.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
Welcome, committee members, and congratulations to the vice-chairs. I hope we have a very fruitful year.
The clerk advises me that there's been a distribution of routine motions. Perhaps we can take a look at those motions and go through them. If it is the wish of the committee, we can do it now. Is it the wish of the committee that we can proceed with the routine motions?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
What I'm going to do is ask that for anybody who wants to speak on the first motion, services of analysts from the Library of Parliament—if we have nothing to say and we say we agree, please say “agree” so we can move on with it.
(Motion agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
The analysts are here if we run into any trouble or we need any clarification.
On the next item, the subcommittee on agenda and procedure, are we okay with it or do we have some comments or concerns? Reduced quorum? No or yes?
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
I have a motion regarding the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure.
Conservative
Sylvie Boucher Conservative Beauport—Limoilou, QC
I move:
That the Sub-Committee on Agenda and Procedure be composed of the Chair, the two Vice-Chairs, the Parliamentary Secretary, a second member for the Liberal party and a member from the other opposition party. Quorum of the Sub-committee shall consist of at least three (3) members one of whom must be from the government. Each member of the sub-committee shall be permitted to have one assistant attend at any meetings of the Sub-Committee on Agenda and Procedure.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
Do you have copies to be distributed to people? We cannot make any decision if we don't have anything in front of us. Are they translated in both official languages?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
You haven't given copies to everyone. You've just given us copies, correct?
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Yasmin Ratansi
What we are going to be doing is this. There's a suggestion by the clerk that we remove the subcommittee on agenda and procedure, because as a committee we've always brought things over to this committee anyway. We do not have subcommittees. While the person has gone to do photocopying so that people can have what you're saying in front of them, let us think about whether we really want a subcommittee. We've never used it and we have always come to the committee. Everything has been discussed at the committee level. No decisions have been made by a subcommittee. We have never used a subcommittee. So we could eliminate the subcommittee anyway.
Mr. Stanton, and then Ms. Davidson.
Conservative
Bruce Stanton Conservative Simcoe North, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I appreciate that in the past we have not used the subcommittee on agenda and procedure. I do recall, however, that these are the same routine motions as we had in the previous session. That option is still there should the committee wish to utilize it. One can never tell if you might get into circumstances where it might be needed, and if one did need to use it, then at least the procedures and protocol for that committee would be set out.
It's up to the committee to decide how it wishes to proceed in these matters, but at the very least the committee will have those motions in place—those tools, if you will—if they should need to use them. I think just because we haven't used them doesn't mean we might not need to at some point in the future.
November 14th, 2007 / 3:45 p.m.
Conservative
Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I was going to say much the same as Mr. Stanton did. I think our committee worked fairly well last time without enacting the subcommittee. I do sit on another committee and it was working quite well, but it got to the point where we had to use the subcommittee. It was good that it was laid out in the routine motions and it was there when we needed it. When we don't need it, we certainly don't even need to worry about it. I think it's well worth our while to have something in there.
