Transport Committee on Feb. 3rd, 2009

[The Clerk of the Committee, Mr. Maxime Ricard]

Honourable committee members, welcome to the first meeting of the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities of the Second Session of the 40th Parliament.

My name is Maxime Ricard. I've been the clerk of this committee for the past year. With me is Isabelle Duford, a new procedural clerk.

I see a quorum.

Our first item of business is the election of the Chair.

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the chair must be a member of the government party. I am now ready to receive motions for the election of the chair.

Mr. Volpe.

[Joe Volpe, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

I'd like to nominate Mr. Merv Tweed for the position of committee Chair.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Mr. Volpe that Merv Tweed be elected as chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

[The Clerk]

I declare the motion carried and Merv Tweed duly elected chair of the committee.

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Clerk]

Before inviting Mr. Tweed to take the chair, if the committee wishes, we'll now proceed to the elections of the vice-chairs. Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the first vice-chair must be a member of the official opposition.

I am now ready to receive motions for the election of the first vice-chair.

Mr. Watson.

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

I would like to nominate Joe Volpe for vice-chair.

[The Clerk]

It has been moved by Mr. Watson that Joe Volpe be elected as first vice-chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

[The Clerk]

I declare the motion carried and Mr. Volpe duly elected first vice-chair of the committee.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

No applause for Mr. Volpe? What's that all about?

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Clerk]

Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the second vice-chair must be a member of an opposition party other than the Official Opposition.

I am now ready to receive motions for the election of the second vice-chair.

Mr. Volpe.

[Joe Volpe, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

I nominate Mr. Mario Laframboise.

[The Clerk]

Mr. Volpe moves that Mario Laframboise be elected second vice-chair of the committee.

Are there any further motions?

Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?

(Motion agreed to)

[Some hon. members]

Hear, hear!

[The Clerk]

I now invite Mr. Tweed to take the chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Thank you, everyone, and welcome.

First of all, I thank you for the confidence displayed in me, as your chair, and I hope that when this session is over, you'll say the same thing.

This is meeting number one of the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities on Tuesday, February 3. These are the orders of the day: following the election of the chair, we are going to look at the agenda of routine motions, which have been circulated.

What you have in front of you in the green document is basically the way the committee operated during the last session. It's been functioning that way since November 15, 2007. It is more for discussion about whether there's agreement or not. Certainly, from a chairman's point of view, I found that it worked very well for this committee. I think it was very inclusive. It allowed everybody on the committee to have input at the committee meeting. No one was disallowed from representing one's point of view, one's party's point of view, or one's constituents' points of view. I've circulated that.

Now, we can look at it in one of two ways. We can look at the entire document as a routine motion, or if there is discussion on specific items, I'm certainly prepared to entertain that, too. With that, I'll open the floor and ask for any feedback.

We'll have Monsieur Laframboise.

[Mario Laframboise, Bloc, Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC]

I move that we adopt all of the routine motions as presented, in that they reflect what was agreed to during the last Parliament.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

There has been that motion.

I'll go to Mr. Volpe.

[Joe Volpe, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

I'd like to make two observations.

Firstly, when the committee meets in camera, I would like someone from the whip's office in each party to be permitted to attend, if they so wish.

So if they want one, I don't mind, if it's okay with everybody else.

The second is that on our steering committee, I thought the practice we had last time was that the subcommittee would be composed of the chair and the two vice-chairs and that the membership was open to the parliamentary secretary and the other opposition party, but not necessarily as voting members.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

We'll have Mr. Jean.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

It has been the practice to allow one government member to vote on that committee. It, of course, would be the parliamentary secretary, if you allowed that. It was our practice to allow me to have a vote. Also, my understanding is that the member of the opposition party, the NDP in this particular case, would also have a vote on the steering committee. That has been our practice.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Mr. Volpe.

[Joe Volpe, Liberal, Eglinton—Lawrence, ON]

Yes, I realize that the practice transcended two sessions. I was there for only one of them, and that's why I wanted to clarify what we were going to do. The clarification, I thought, was that the government member in that instance was going to be represented by the chair. There would be the chair and the two vice-chairs, and the parliamentary secretary and the other opposition member would be there for their input. But if there were an impasse, we wouldn't go to those two members; it would be the three table officers who would make the decision.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

If I may, whether it happened by accident or by design, I felt, as the chair, that I was basically there, at the request of the committee, to implement the decisions of the committee. I felt a little bit awkward arguing the government position at a committee meeting and then voting for it. I felt that my position was to listen to the debate, and if there was a tie, to make a decision at that point.

I think the parliamentary secretary has voted at all the subcommittee meetings, knowing well that the subcommittee meeting doesn't move forward until we get a vote at the committee as a whole. But, again, I look for direction.