Transport Committee on Nov. 25th, 2010

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

Thank you very much.

I want to say first, Ms. Vonn, that I was not attacking your credibility. I heard a lot of references to international law, and I was trying to understand where that information and expertise came from.

I understand your reputation. I saw some other interesting things. In an interview on August 27, 2010, you expressed concerns about data mining. I think that's part of your expertise. In fact you said:

The federal government and many provincial governments have been busily creating a privacy Chernobyl in-waiting with their relentless push for database “interoperability”.

What did you mean by that? Did you mean they're collecting information like driver's licence information, and social insurance number information, and it's creating a long-term problem? What did you mean?

[Micheal Vonn]

I'm not sure which particular databases I'm referring to in that interview. It certainly has nothing to do with--

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

You said federal and provincial.

[Micheal Vonn]

Right. In order to make that answer complete, it would be very long.

What I'm referring to is the push towards what's sometimes called e-government, or the horizontal government movement to integrate government databases. It has been an express push in the federal government, and it certainly has been an express push in the Government of British Columbia.

This is not a new thing, and we're very concerned about it. I'm just not sure how it's relevant to the topic we're dealing with at the moment, because I'm talking about Canadians.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Thank you.

I have to interrupt there. We have committee business that we have to deal with. It will give us a brief moment to take a break.

I thank our guests for being here and providing us with information that will help us. We're all trying to make good legislation, and we appreciate your input. Thank you very much.

We're going to take a short recess to say farewell to our guests. Then we'll be back with committee business.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Thank you, and welcome back.

Just before we move to the motions of Mr. McCallum, I would ask members to get out their pens and pieces of paper.

We discussed some alternative times for the committee to meet in regard to Air Canada issues, airport noise, and the maintenance contracts. Based on the information we've received, the dates available to do this would be Wednesday, December 1, from 3:30 to 4:30, and Tuesday, December 7, from 3:30 to 5:30. So with the committee's endorsement, I will send out the invitations and hope we can respond.

I know, Mr. Guimond, you have provided a couple of names that we'll contact as well, in regard to the noise issue.

I also want to advise the committee that the minister's office has reported back to me that the way his schedule is, he can offer to be here on Monday, December 6, from 3:30 to 4:30, for the supplementary estimates. Now I know that time didn't work for everybody when we sent the list out, but I would ask if you could respond back to Bonnie and advise us if you can or cannot make it, and then we'll advise the minister whether we have enough people, first for quorum and second for the minister.

Mr. Jean.

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

I just want to advise the committee that when the minister's staff did deal with this issue, I understand he was actually busy that day as well, but he is making changes to his schedule to accommodate us. He just has a very hectic schedule right now and that's the first day he has available.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

If members can, please notify Bonnie, the clerk, even by the end of today, so we can advise the minister and he can go ahead with his plans.

Ms. Crombie.

[Bonnie Crombie, Liberal, Mississauga—Streetsville, ON]

I just have a question, Mr. Chairman. On which date, the 1st or the 7th, will we address airport noise?

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

What I'm going to do is ask the departmental officials to come in first, and we're going to try to deal with two or three of the issues that were brought forward, i.e., the maintenance contracts and airport noise.

The second meeting I would designate for airport noise, simply because we can then confirm our witnesses.

Monsieur Guimond.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

Mr. Chairman, through you, I am confirming to the clerk that the date of Monday, December 6, to meet the minister works for the Bloc Québécois, as well as Wednesday, December 1 and Tuesday, December 7 for the noise study; that works as well.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Thank you.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

The clerk didn't hear me: she's speaking with the NDP researcher. She can read the blues.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

She has it marked down, so you're in.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

Anyway, she's a woman and she's able to do—

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Yes, to multi-task, absolutely.

I would ask Mr. Davies if he could pass that on and just confirm.

Mr. Byrne, could you also just confirm if you would have a member or two available.

[Gerry Byrne, Liberal, Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL]

I will definitely do that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Thank you very much.

If I could have that information by the end of today, it would certainly make it easier to schedule witnesses.

Mr. Watson.

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

I just have a brief question. If that meeting gets scheduled, will it be a full committee meeting or a reduced quorum meeting?

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

It will be a full committee invite, but we would have to have quorum of five members to begin the meeting. I think it would be—

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Okay.

Some will be in transit at that point, but if it's a full committee, we would then have to make arrangements to find somebody else to substitute.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

I think it would be somewhat disrespectful to invite the minister and not have our committee members show up.

[Jeff Watson, Conservative, Essex, ON]

Fair enough.

[The Chair, Conservative, Merv Tweed]

Mr. Jean.