Evidence of meeting #1 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was jean.
The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Georges Etoka
I see a quorum.
Pursuant to Standing Order 106(3), we are going to proceed with the election of the chair of the committee. I am ready to receive motions to that effect.
Mr. Bell.
The Clerk
We are going to proceed now with the election of vice-chairs. I am ready to receive motions to that effect.
Madame Stronach.
Liberal
The Clerk
Pursuant to the rules, since we have two nominations we are going to proceed to a secret ballot.
Ladies and gentlemen, I've counted the ballots and I declare Mr. Bell elected vice-chair.
The Clerk
We are going to proceed to the nomination of the second vice-chair.
Mr. Julian.
NDP
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
I think everybody has the document in front of them. We'll go to routine motions, item number 3, “Services of Analysts from the Library of Parliament”.
Liberal
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
Item number 4, “Motion establishing a Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure”.
Moved by Mr. Fast.
Mr. Hubbard.
Liberal
Charles Hubbard Liberal Miramichi, NB
The committee is structured a good deal differently from the previous transport committee. In establishing that motion, can the chair or someone define what the overall role will be in terms of infrastructure and communities? It certainly broadens the scope of our committee, and sometime soon it might be good to identify what this committee is going to cover.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
That's a good point, and after we establish the subcommittee, I think that will be where those ideas come from. Obviously we have to be open to everybody's position and the direction in which they want the committee to move over the next short while. Certainly I don't think you'd find any disagreement among us.
Are there any other comments?
Mr. Jean.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
It might be advantageous to deal with infrastructure matters as they arise and even form subcommittees, because of the workload we're going to have in dealing with specific issues. That might be one way to deal with it.
What I'd like to do at this stage is advise the committee that I've talked to the minister. If you would like him to attend a meeting, he would be pleased to do so—schedule permitting, of course. That might be the way to start off our focus, with questions to him and the department.
Liberal
Charles Hubbard Liberal Miramichi, NB
Mr. Parliamentary Secretary, it seems to involve several departments we're involved with today. I'm not sure how that fits in, but we have one parliamentary secretary. Usually when we have more than one department, we would be looking at a broader scope. The parliamentary secretary is saying transport is his issue, but in terms of infrastructure, which is very important to this country and has been a big factor in past Parliaments, I wonder how this committee is to approach it in terms of broadening our scope of discussion.
Liberal
Andy Scott Liberal Fredericton, NB
Thank you.
Further to that, I think the Minister of State, Infrastructure and Communities previously dealt with Parliament through the environment committee. It would behoove this committee to quickly take up the space. Otherwise, I think there'll be criticism that, respectfully, where this used to be in environment, which carried a certain message, now it's in transport.
The more quickly we get into infrastructure as a subject matter and not allow ourselves to be too caught in the inertia of the fact that the committee was a transport committee for a long time and it's going to be very difficult to suddenly be something other than that. I think it's going to be critically important to make the point that the infrastructure piece of this isn't secondary, but actually this is the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
We'll certainly make sure that with the subcommittee that will be constructed, this becomes one of the issues we lay out before the committee at large, recognizing the priorities of all parts of the department.
Mr. Jean.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
Mr. Chair, if I can, I just wanted to make mention that in my studies in preparation for this particular committee I found that, quite frankly, most of the infrastructure and transport issues were often duplicated. Often they dealt with the same project with different funds, which meant more bureaucracy. I found a huge tie between infrastructure and transportation, just because of the nature of the deficit we've had for the last 13 years.
I think it's very appropriate that we deal with them as one matter and one group, because we do need to move forward for all of Canada on something that's quite frankly a deficit all over. In my mind, the key is that when we find issues that are so important to all of us, we form a subcommittee to deal with them, either to bring back to the committee or to have specific recommendations. We do have a huge portfolio, but I certainly think it would be much more advantageous to do that rather than trying to piecemeal everything all over the place.
That's just my opinion, and I do think, obviously, we have to have a steering committee direct us as to how we're going to go.
I think the minister's offering himself at such an early date explains how committed he is to this process. I think if we had him here, and maybe had some ideas from committee members as far as what you would like to see approached and dealt with first, then we could get to work immediately. As time goes on, obviously we're going to be able to change our focus.
