Evidence of meeting #15 for Status of Women in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was countries.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:20 p.m.
Bloc
Johanne Deschamps Bloc Laurentides—Labelle, QC
I would just like to make a clarification.
We know that the foundation no longer exists. Actually, we are asking the minister to come here to address the concerns of the groups who supported the foundation. What will happen with the groups that received the foundation's support for a number of years, now that it is no longer funded? What are their concerns about that? Women's groups especially are worried about what the minister will now do with the funding that no longer goes to the foundation. They are wondering how this will be managed and whether we will continue to support them. That is why we are asking the minister to come here.
5:20 p.m.
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
Madam Chair, if I may, I was in the House the night there was the emergency debate on this issue. It lasted for five hours in the House.
Would it not be prudent for us, first of all, to get the material from the Indian and northern affairs committee and from the Hansard? Would that not be prudent to get, so we have that before we bring in the minister? It would seem to be prudent, because so much of the debate has already taken place.
5:20 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
We've heard from three people who were at the aboriginal committee, and two said they were not satisfied with what they heard, that the questions were not answered with regard to what was going to happen to the funding for those groups who will no longer be funded.
Of course Hansard is something you can get whether you agree to this motion or not. It doesn't preclude getting Hansard to help to inform you so you can ask clear pertinent questions of the minister. I don't think those two things are necessarily contradictory.
I'm going to call the question on Madame Demers' motion with regard to the Minister of Health.
There is a tie vote. The chair will have to break the tie.
I will ask the Minister of Health to come, purely because I have heard two-to-one that the question Madame Demers is asking was not answered there.
(Motion agreed to)
Madam Neville made a comment, and before I speak to her comment in a broader context, Ms. Simson has something to say.
5:20 p.m.
Liberal
Michelle Simson Liberal Scarborough Southwest, ON
Well, no, it's not really something to say; it relates to this matter and it's a question. If you look at the schedule, have we received, or have you as the chair received, any response from either Minister Oda or Minister Ambrose as per our request that they appear before our committee? That's only the one concern. I certainly support this. It's getting a response that concerns me, any kind of response.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
We have not as of today heard from Minister Oda and Minister Ambrose whether they can come here before the end of May. These questions were asked of these ministers. There was a lot of leeway offered to them, as long as it happened before the end of May. We know the parliamentary secretary, Madame Boucher, had said she would speak to the minister with regard to this.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
I must say that as the chair my comment is simply that we have asked a minister who is particularly responsible to this committee and we have not even heard from her. I have not had a simple response of any kind--a yes, no, don't bother me, or anything. I've just had nothing.
Minister Oda had said she couldn't come on the dates that we had suggested, and we have since sent back to ask her if she could come on May 26, which would be before the end of May. We have not heard a response to that.
We're now asking two ministers to come. I would just like to comment that in the past, when we were looking at other issues, such as EI, we had asked the minister of HRSDC to come. We had asked the minister of the Treasury Board to come with regard to pay equity. Ministers do not have to appear before a committee. I guess that's their executive prerogative not to do so. However, as chair of the committee, I might suggest that when a committee asks for information and asks for clarification because we need to understand the issue better, I really think.... I have been here for 17 years, and it's the first time I have seen ministers completely not responding. It's not just not coming, but it's not responding to chairs of committees and committees who request their presence. That concerns me a little bit. It is something I think Ms. Simson is alluding to.
I know the parliamentary secretary can only do what the parliamentary secretary can do, which is ask. If the parliamentary secretary doesn't get an answer, she's being considered to be not as important as the committee is either. A committee of the House is an important body. You've heard the Speaker speak to this issue. A committee of the House is here, in a non-partisan way, to gather information, to understand the issues, and to speak to them, to report on them, to make recommendations, if they believe that Parliament does not have the answers it requires. That's how you get answers, through committees. So I am concerned, and I want the concern to be on the record in this instance.
I sent a third letter to the ministers last week, personally sending them the motion, reminding them that this has to be done before the end of June, and we have not heard anything back. Not even to acknowledge is not a good thing, I think. It's not particularly respectful of committees.
That's speaking to the issue of Ms. Simson's question.
Now, we have another question we need to ask. Ms. Neville had put forward a motion in the last meeting that the committee hold a special meeting to examine the manner in which funding is distributed by Status of Women Canada, etc. She had said that this was a special meeting. The point is, if it's a special meeting, I asked everyone to think about it, because it means it is outside of the two meetings a week that we have. Have you got a date, as a committee, that we will stay one evening and get this done? We have all passed this motion--it was passed by the committee--to hold a special meeting. “Special” means outside the normal meetings. It's for one meeting. We've asked for this to come to the clerk and the analyst, but we have not had a response from the committee on this. We need to make that decision.
Ms. Neville.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
Anita Neville Liberal Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Madam Chair, I wonder if I could suggest possibly doing what we've done in the aboriginal affairs committee, extending the regular meeting by an hour, or an hour and a bit.
5:25 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
That's a good suggestion, except I would like the committee to note that on a Monday evening and a Thursday evening, I would say that at nine out of every ten meetings, we've had a vote. But if you wish to come back after the vote, and there could be a meal provided, that would be one way of following up on Ms. Neville's comment. Wednesday nights seem to be particularly free, if people wanted to stay on a Wednesday. We could start again at six o'clock and have a dinner and spend a few hours on this, the normal time of any committee, which is going to be two hours.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Do you all have this? We keep giving it every time.
Yes, this will be after the break week. The break week is the 17th to the 22nd, so we could look at either after this committee on the 25th, and the--
5:30 p.m.
The Clerk
On the 25th, you don't sit.
5:30 p.m.
Conservative
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
Well, we would have to stay and let this committee be a continuing committee. It could be the 26th. It could be the second. It could be the ninth.
5:30 p.m.
The Clerk
Well, on the second you might be travelling, if you get your budget approved.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
The 26th is soon. It's quick. We may be into travelling in June, so the 26th seems like a practical solution.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
I'm putting it to everyone. You're the ones who have to make the decision.
5:30 p.m.
Conservative
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
All right. Does someone want to make that proposal for the 26th? Ms. Neville.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
Anita Neville Liberal Winnipeg South Centre, MB
If you want to ask the clerk to set it up, that's fine.
5:30 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Hedy Fry
No, but we have to have an agreement. The clerk can't set up a meeting if no one can come. We have Ms. Boucher agreeing to it. So what I'm doing is asking the committee if the 26th is acceptable to everyone, after committee to continue for an extra two hours. We will supply food. And if there's a vote, come back after the vote.
