Evidence of meeting #2 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 amendment.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
You've tabled whatever ones you had. My apologies, but this one is not on the table as of yet.
NDP
Linda Duncan NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
Okay. That's fine. I'm happy to move it at another meeting—
NDP
Linda Duncan NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
—unless there is unanimous consent. Do we have unanimous consent?
Liberal
NDP
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Clearly we don't.
Have we dispensed with all the motions that anyone had tabled and wanted to dispose of? I gather we have.
As I mentioned earlier, two issues came up this morning that I wanted to bring to the committee for some direction.
The supplementary estimates are available, and it's possible that we could deal with them on Wednesday, since we have nothing on our agenda at the moment.
Is the committee in favour of dealing with the supplementary estimates (C) on Wednesday, February 24?
All those in favour?
NDP
Linda Duncan NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
I wanted to speak to that. I thought we had already invited some government officials to come in, had we not?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
No. Ms. Block had put forward a wonderful motion and made a suggestion that we have the officials from PBO and the Treasury Board come in and talk to us in advance, given that we have so many new committee members, but unfortunately we have run out of time for that right now.
The suggestion would be that we deal with the supplementary estimates this coming Wednesday, but at some point in our committee meetings I would very much like to see us bring in the proper officials so that everyone gets a full understanding of what the estimate process is, and so on.
NDP
Linda Duncan NDP Edmonton Strathcona, AB
Madam Chair, may I speak to that?
I thought that there had already been a special briefing offered to everybody by the government officials on how to understand the estimates and the budget process. Are we repeating something? I don't know if people attended.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Quite often it doesn't matter how many meetings you have. The estimates process is a convoluted, complicated issue, and the more information and understanding you have of that process, the better off we all are.
NDP
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Of course. It was all part of the mandatory....
I will ask that we deal with supplementary estimates on Wednesday. Are we in agreement?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
All right.
I have one other question. I have been informed this morning that the committee has the ability to review order in council appointments. There are three appointments that the committee has been asked if it wants to review.
The first is Danièle Dion, vice-chairperson and member of the Great Lakes Pilotage Authority.
The second is Robert Bruce Ellis Hallsor, member of the board of directors for the Prince Rupert Port Authority.
The third is Stephen Mallory, a director with VIA rail.
These appointments were made towards the end of the mandate of the previous government. It is up to the committee whether they choose to invite one or two or all three members to come before the committee to talk about exactly what they do and their qualifications and so on. It will be up to the committee to decide what you would like to do with this.
Because of the timing, one suggestion might be to ask the analyst to come forward with a bit of information on all three of these authorities, plus some information on the process and on the individuals. At that time we could decide whether or not to invite them to come before the committee. That was one suggestion.
What is the will of the committee?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Well, the individuals are currently serving in this capacity, so it's up to the committee if they choose to have these individuals come. Do we want to get some information from the analyst first so that we go into this exercise fully knowledgeable about everything?
Can you do that kind of a report for us?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Okay, so that's the direction of the committee. Is there unanimous consent to do that? I see there is. All right.
Is there any other business?