Evidence of meeting #143 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 federal.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Matt Jeneroux Conservative Edmonton Riverbend, AB
—and then get a recorded vote, if we could. Thanks.
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I am not going to oppose the motion, to the extent that we can find room for this in our schedule. Mr. Hardie's suggestion seems interesting, as it does not eliminate topics from our schedule that we are supposed to study before the House rises.
I'd like to make sure that if we do ask the minister to come, the motion we passed at the previous meeting will still apply. If the minister is not available for one reason or another, we should automatically convene the parliamentary secretary, to save time.
Liberal
Vance Badawey Liberal Niagara Centre, ON
Madam Chair, I'm not opposed to the idea. We've been shoehorning things in for the past two weeks, so I'm just concerned about whether we can find time.
My question for you or the clerk is, if this were to pass, where would we squeeze it in?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
I believe June 7 is when we were doing the rail study that Mr. Aubin has been patiently waiting for us to get to.
It becomes very difficult, because we have filled our calendar pretty significantly, but if the motion were to pass, we would have to bounce something else or squeeze something else to try to make it happen.
Mr. Iacono.
Liberal
Angelo Iacono Liberal Alfred-Pellan, QC
I was going to ask for some time out so we could discuss it and come back. Just give us a minute or two.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Okay. We will suspend.
My apologies to the witnesses; just give us a few minutes.
We will suspend for a couple of minutes so that everybody can think through the implications.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
I'll call the meeting back to order.
Before we start any further discussions, I have also, through the clerk, invited the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities to come and speak to us about the estimates, which means there's another meeting that we have to move things around for. It just really limits our ability to do a whole lot of extras, given the fact that we're trying to fit in these other things as well as get some work done on a much-awaited study on passenger rail service.
I have Mr. Badawey and then Mr. Hardie.
Liberal
Vance Badawey Liberal Niagara Centre, ON
Madam Chair, I have no problem with the motion. The only consideration is time, as I mentioned earlier. What I would suggest and would ask the mover to do is remove the date and have the clerk come back with some options with respect to what dates we can actually look at. Obviously, something will have to be bumped. I think if we have options available to us with respect to....
Again, I don't mind passing the motion; it would just be minus the date, because we don't know. If we can have those options presented to us with respect to what dates we can actually look at and then therefore bump, then I think it can be doable. I just want to make the point that something that we have already agreed upon will have to be bumped.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
The suggestion is that the date be deleted and then on Thursday at our meeting the clerk would come forward with some suggested dates and a consideration of what would have to be bumped in order for that to happen.
Do I have that correct?
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I also agree to eliminate the date, if that makes things easier for everyone.
I may have a suggestion, if committee members' schedule is a bit flexible. We intended to study the passenger safety draft report at our May 30 meeting. I may be imagining things, but I have the sense that a broad consensus developed during that study on the safety of bus passengers.
Perhaps we could ask the minister to appear during the first hour. If that works with everyone's schedule, we could devote the second hour to the draft report and agree to go beyond the regulatory 13 hours. That would be one way of squaring that circle.
Conservative
Matt Jeneroux Conservative Edmonton Riverbend, AB
Madam Chair, I thank Mr. Badawey for the suggestion. I think that's probably fair. I've just edited the motion—it's a friendly amendment, I guess—to remove the date and to say that she appear before the committee before the end of session and that she appear on her mandate letter. Hopefully, that gives you and the clerk some flexibility to look at possible dates and bring those back to us next Thursday.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
All right. We'll have that on the agenda to discuss for a bit on Thursday.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Yes.
Does the committee agree to the changes Mr. Jeneroux has made to his motion, so that it would read that the minister appear “before the end of the session, to appear on her mandate letter”?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
(Amendment agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])
Is everyone in favour of the motion as amended by Mr. Jeneroux, the mover of the motion?
We'd like a recorded vote? Okay.
(Motion as amended agreed to: yeas 9; nays 0 [See Minutes of Proceedings])
Mr. Jeneroux has 30 seconds left.
Okay. Thank you.
Ms. Hutchings.
Liberal
Gudie Hutchings Liberal Long Range Mountains, NL
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I believe I have six minutes.
