Evidence of meeting #1 for Status of Women in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was move.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
Just to clarify, this also gives the Conservatives, not the Liberals, the first question.
Conservative
NDP
Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
I'm not in a position to compare the two side by side. I was really just looking for clarification on the rationale.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
Sure.
What you're suggesting is different from what PROC has put forward, but basically you've evened it out. Instead of everybody beginning at seven minutes and going down to five, you've said that it will all be six, start to finish, but Conservatives will get the first question. Is that correct?
Liberal
Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
Speaking as someone who's on PROC, I can say it's a half-dozen of one and six of the other. I think each committee can decide. I'm hoping this committee will work collaboratively enough that we won't be nitpicking about the number of minutes. We'll actually be questioning witnesses and working together.
The issue is how often we get to those last two questions. There also is a concern about having two Liberals back to back. In the end, the number of minutes doesn't really vary. In fact, this model gives the opposition more minutes than the other one, but the other one gives us the first question, so it's kind of a half-dozen of one or the other. It's whatever we choose.
Liberal
Ruby Sahota Liberal Brampton North, ON
Just to add to those comments, I'm also on PROC with Anita. I guess whatever we choose will be the will of this committee. In terms of the questioning of witnesses and whether we get to all the rounds and all of the minutes, so far we've been seeing that it depends on the leadership of the chair, but we've been having a lot of success in doing so.
It really depends on our will here. It depends on whether we want to adopt one model over another and on how much discussion we want.
Conservative
NDP
Sheila Malcolmson NDP Nanaimo—Ladysmith, BC
I'm happy with the explanation. I appreciate the members who have already been sitting on committees catching me up on the conversation, so thanks.
Conservative
Rachael Thomas Conservative Lethbridge, AB
Just to add one further comment to this conversation, I move that we do change it to the model that's presently being used in PROC. That would mean that the first four spots would be seven minutes each, the next four spots five minutes, and the last one three. We would go Liberal, Conservative, NDP, Liberal, Conservative, Liberal, Conservative, Liberal, NDP in order to accommodate.
One of the reasons for this is that I now serve as an alternate on the physician-assisted dying committee, and sometimes it can be quite challenging, actually, to make it through that first round, which then takes away from the second round. If we were to make this slight change, it could perhaps accommodate that.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
The motion on the table is for the six all the way through, with the reverse order....
Ms. Damoff.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
I'm fine to remove the motion and go that way. If two people wanted to split time, they'd each get three and a half minutes.
I'm happy to remove my motion and go with that.
(Motion withdrawn)
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
The motion is to go with the PROC recommendation of seven for the first four, and then five for the next four, and somebody said three.... You would know, because you're on PROC.
The motion, then, is as follows:
That witnesses be given ten (10) minutes to make their opening statement; and that during the questioning of witnesses the time allocated to each questioner be as follows: for the first round of questioning, seven (7) minutes to a representative of each party in the following order: Liberal Party, Conservative Party, New Democratic Party, Liberal Party; for the second round, five (5) minutes be allocated in the following order: Conservative Party, Liberal Party, Conservative Party, Liberal Party; followed by New Democratic Party, three (3) minutes.
(Motion agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])
The next motion is on staff at in camera meetings.
Ms. Damoff.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
I move:
That each Committee member in attendance shall be permitted to have one staff member attend at any in camera meetings. In addition, each party shall be permitted to have one party staff member attend in camera meetings.
(Motion agreed to)
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
Excellent.
Can I have a mover on in camera transcripts?
Mr. Fraser.
Liberal
Colin Fraser Liberal West Nova, NS
I move that:
One copy of the transcript of all in camera meetings be kept in the Committee Clerk's office for consultation by members of the Committee.
(Motion agreed to)
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
Excellent.
Can I have a mover on notice of motions?
Ms. Vandenbeld.
Liberal
Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
I move:
That forty-eight (48) hours' notice be required for any substantive motion to be considered by the Committee, unless the substantive motion relates directly to business then under consideration; and that the notice of motion be filed with the Clerk of the Committee and distributed to members in both official languages; and, that completed motions received by 4:00 p.m. Monday to Friday be distributed to members the same day.
(Motion agreed to)
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Marilyn Gladu
All of the routine motions have now been adopted.
From there, do members have any items they would like to add to the committee business?
Ms. Vecchio.
Conservative
Karen Vecchio Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
I think it would be wonderful if we could have the actual Minister of Status of Women come in and share her mandate with us so that we all know what pages we're on and how we're going to move forward as a team.
Liberal
Pam Damoff Liberal Oakville North—Burlington, ON
It's not discussion, but to just add to that, maybe we could formally send an invitation to her to attend our first meeting when we're back to see if that would accommodate her and if we could get this committee into her schedule as well. Perhaps you could send an invitation to her for that first meeting.