Evidence of meeting #141 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was industry.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Mr. Jeneroux, you have the floor.
Come on, guys. Let's go, or I'll just end the meeting.
Mr. Jeneroux, you have the floor.
Conservative
Conservative
Matt Jeneroux Conservative Edmonton Riverbend, AB
Madam Chair, the constant interruptions by Mr. Badawey are—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
I'm going to end the meeting if we can't just.... Let's just be calm. Everybody knows what everybody wants to accomplish. Come on.
Mr. Jeneroux.
Conservative
Matt Jeneroux Conservative Edmonton Riverbend, AB
Madam Chair, I want to be clear where I'm getting the information from so that you can make an adequate decision when it comes to future requests.
I don't believe we necessarily need to list the minister, the parliamentary secretary and officials in every single motion we make. It's assumed, essentially, by the document on the website here, which says, “Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada” and “Guide for Parliamentary Secretaries”.
This is under point 4, “Standing Committees”. I'll read up to the point—
Conservative
Conservative
Liberal
Conservative
Matt Jeneroux Conservative Edmonton Riverbend, AB
I only included one point, so I want to make sure that you're referring to the adequate website when going to it.
Conservative
Matt Jeneroux Conservative Edmonton Riverbend, AB
Again, it says, “Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada” and “pm.gc.ca”, then “Guide for Parliamentary Secretaries”. In point 4, “Standing Committees”, it says:
In light of their Government duties, parliamentary secretaries do not chair standing committees. For the purpose of clarity, a parliamentary secretary cannot be, or stand in for, a voting member of a committee that falls under their responsibility as [a] parliamentary secretary.
The parliamentary secretary’s key role in relation to a standing committee responsible for reviewing his or her minister’s department is to:
provide leadership on Government issues to the members on the committee;
in the absence of the minister, explain and defend the minister’s position before the committee;
assist in providing information on the Estimates of organizations in the minister’s portfolio and any other administrative matters; and
where appropriate, facilitate public service appearances before the committee and intervene if necessary to address political issues that may arise.
I think that makes it clear, Madam Chair, that there's no need to include a parliamentary secretary in any sort of motion. It should then be assumed that the parliamentary secretary will be invited in the absence of the minister attending.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
It is not the practice for every committee. It has never been raised until this meeting that any of the committee members would like PSs to come.
Mr. Aubin is suggesting that he's going to introduce a motion, which is fine—do that at another point—but it's not automatic that a PS come. If you want a PS to come, then request it, as you've done now in your motion, but it is not tied to the other motion that you had planned. At the moment, the indigenous affairs department officials will be here. You have a motion that you want the PS to come. We will vote on that at our next meeting when you appropriately move it. We will deal with it at that time.
Mr. Aubin.
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I wanted to make a little correction, because I feel like I'm being accused of playing politics. For my part, I feel like I'm being political. We're all in politics here. Our leanings are often very similar and sometimes differ. With all due respect to the officials, I would like to point out that at the committee, when we ask to meet with a minister, it is because we want to meet with a political authority and have a dialogue with that person. I think that in the absence of this authority, it is highly desirable that the minister's parliamentary secretary be able to step in, given that this is part of the parliamentary secretary's duties. That will be the subject of my motion.
So if that's being political, then yes, I'm being political. I'm a politician.
Liberal
