Evidence of meeting #1 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
3:30 p.m.
The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Philippe Grenier-Michaud
I see a quorum. We can now proceed to the election of the chair.
Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the chair must be a member of the government party. I'm ready to receive motions for the chair.
Ms. Chow.
3:30 p.m.
The Clerk
It has been moved by Ms. Chow that Mr. Miller be elected as chair of the committee.
Are there any further motions?
Seeing none, is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
I declare the motion carried and Mr. Miller duly elected chair of the committee.
Before inviting Mr. Miller to take the chair, if the committee wishes, we will now proceed to the election of the vice-chairs.
Mr. Braid.
3:30 p.m.
Conservative
Peter Braid Conservative Kitchener—Waterloo, ON
Thank you.
I would like to move that Olivia Chow be the vice-chair for the official opposition.
3:30 p.m.
The Clerk
Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), Mr. Braid has moved that Ms. Chow be elected first vice-chair of the committee.
Are there any further motions?
Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
3:30 p.m.
Some hon. members
Agreed.
3:30 p.m.
The Clerk
(Motion agreed to)
I declare the motion carried and Ms. Chow duly elected as first vice-chair of the committee.
Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), the second vice-chair must be a member of an opposition party other than the official opposition party.
I am now ready to receive motions for the election of the second vice-chair.
Mr. Braid, you have the floor.
3:30 p.m.
Conservative
Peter Braid Conservative Kitchener—Waterloo, ON
Again, Mr. Clerk, I move that David McGuinty be the second vice-chair for the committee.
3:30 p.m.
The Clerk
It has been moved by Mr. Braid that Mr. McGuinty be elected second vice-chair of the committee.
Are there any other motions?
Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
I declare the motion carried and Mr. McGuinty duly elected the second vice-chair of the committee.
I now invite Mr. Miller to take the chair.
3:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
Thank you very much. There's going to be no acceptance speech, but I appreciate the support, and I welcome back and congratulate my two co-chairs. I think anybody who has worked around me before will find that I'll be as fair as anyone, but I'll be firm when I have to be. We're here to conduct business, and my past experience here is that I think we have had that as a whole from all sides.
I look forward to a busy session. Before we move on, I'd like to thank our former clerk, Alexandre Roger. Thank you very much for your work here, and I certainly look forward to working with Philippe. We'll move from there.
With no further ado, I think the only real order of business we have to deal with today are our procedural motions, which we need to have in place just to have a steering committee.
With that, I'll open it up to comments from the floor.
Mr. Watson.
3:30 p.m.
Conservative
Jeff Watson Conservative Essex, ON
I would like to move that we adopt the routine motions we adopted in the last session, with one amendment; that is that the subcommittee on agenda and procedure be composed of five members, including the chair, two vice-chairs, and the two parliamentary secretaries, instead of the parliamentary secretary and a member of the Conservative Party.
(Motion agreed to)
3:30 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
With that, it will be my intention to get under way and call a steering committee for next Monday at 3:30. It shouldn't take the whole two hours, obviously, but we'll go from there.
Mr. Watson.
3:30 p.m.
Conservative
Jeff Watson Conservative Essex, ON
Mr. Chair, I have one other item of business that I would like to move. We have copies of this in both official languages for the benefit of the committee. It is:
That, in relation to the Orders of Reference from the House respecting Bills,
(a) the Clerk of the Committee shall, upon the Committee receiving such an Order of Reference, write to each Member who is not a member of a caucus represented on the Committee to invite those Members to file, in a letter to the Chair of the Committee, in both official languages, any amendments to the Bill, which is the subject of the said Order, which they would suggest that the Committee consider;
(b) suggested amendments filed, pursuant to paragraph (a), at least 48 hours prior to the start of clause-by-clause consideration of the Bill to which the amendments relate shall be deemed to be proposed during the said consideration, provided that the Committee may, by motion, vary this deadline in respect of a given Bill; and
(c) during the clause-by-clause consideration of a Bill, the Chair shall allow a Member who filed suggested amendments, pursuant to paragraph (a), an opportunity to make brief representations in support of them.
Mr. Chair, I so move.
This is essentially to ensure an orderly manner in which independent MPs who are not a part of a party represented at the table will have an opportunity to move any suggested amendments at this committee and to speak to them briefly. This would allow the committee itself an opportunity to consider those amendments.
3:35 p.m.
NDP
Olivia Chow NDP Trinity—Spadina, ON
Can I see the motion?
Do you want to deal with it today, next Wednesday, or Monday?
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
I believe this is an addition to our procedural motion, so I think we need to deal with it today.
Obviously, we're just getting this. It will take a few minutes to read. If you want to speak to it—
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
Jeff Watson Conservative Essex, ON
I've essentially given the raison d'être. If they want to suspend for a couple of minutes to consider it, that's fine, too.
3:35 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Larry Miller
I'll give them a couple of minutes and then open it up to discussion.
Is there any discussion on the motion? Hearing none, all in favour of the motion?
(Motion agreed to)
Is there any further business?
Hearing none, I'll adjourn the meeting. The members of the steering committee will get their appropriate notice shortly.
The meeting is adjourned.