Evidence of meeting #22 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 system.
A video is available from Parliament.
10:55 a.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
Clearly, I'm the last one to join the committee and I wasn't here last fall and spring when the discussions took place. However, it seems to me that extending our working sessions should be an exceptional measure. We all have fairly hectic work schedules. Extending a committee sitting means cancelling another scheduled for any or all of us on the committee.
Furthermore, there will be a steering committee meeting. Time will be spent on those matters. There will be a report from that meeting and we will need to talk about it. It seems to me that common decency requires that, when Parliament resumes, we take the time to look at the agenda together and debate it during the meetings scheduled for committee business.
10:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Luc Berthold
Thank you very much, Mr. Aubin.
Mr. Badawey, would you like to talk about the same issue?
10:55 a.m.
Liberal
Vance Badawey Liberal Niagara Centre, ON
Mr. Chairman, with all due respect to both the opposition party as well as the NDP, we do have a meeting on Tuesday, and we are going to be discussing putting that on the agenda. If there is opportunity, which I suspect there will be, to discuss this issue, we can make it the first part of the discussion at the Tuesday meeting.
10:55 a.m.
Conservative
Kelly Block Conservative Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK
I do want to make clear that I recognize we have witnesses scheduled for Tuesday, and I'm not asking to take time away from those witnesses or to change what we have scheduled on Tuesday. I'm happy to go forward with what is on the plan already. My understanding is that there were no witnesses scheduled for Thursday yet, which is why I asked for some time on Thursday to be set aside for a discussion by the whole committee on the agenda going forward.
10:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Luc Berthold
Mr. Hardie, the floor is yours.
Mr. Badawey will have the floor afterwards.
10:55 a.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Perhaps an option is to take the subcommittee time and make it a meeting of the whole committee with everybody there to have the discussion.
10:55 a.m.
Liberal
Vance Badawey Liberal Niagara Centre, ON
No, we're trying to be accommodating here while at the same time trying to take away from the agendas that have already been established. We have three meetings set up. We have a steering committee set up on Monday. Then we have the committee of the whole on Tuesday and on Thursday. I'm sure that in the steering committee on Monday, the discussion on how we're going to move forward with the committee will be very robust.
That said, if and when those issues that come out of the steering committee meeting are brought up on Tuesday and Thursday, we can discuss them then. Whether it's Tuesday or Thursday, we can set up a Tuesday discussion based on time, and if it flows into the Thursday meeting, then so be it.
10:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Luc Berthold
My understanding is that Ms. Block, a member of the official opposition, is asking that we set aside time at next Thursday's meeting to discuss the fall schedule for committee business.
On Monday, the steering committee will meet. On Tuesday, we will hear from witnesses and I confirmed the meeting with the clerk. On Thursday, the attendance of witnesses has not yet been confirmed.
Does the committee agree with Ms. Block's request to schedule time on Thursday to discuss our work and our agenda? That’s the question and I would like it answered. We must answer this question. Does the committee agree to schedule time on Thursday for this fall’s agenda?
If there are no further comments, I'll ask—
10:55 a.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Luc Berthold
I will repeat what has been said.
A request has been made by the two opposition parties. They are asking that we set aside time next week to discuss future business.
On Tuesday, the attendance of witnesses is already confirmed. The meeting is scheduled as part of our work. I understand that the opposition is not asking to change that agenda.
For the time being, no witnesses have confirmed their attendance for Thursday. It would therefore be possible to discuss the schedule for our business on Thursday and present the recommendations made by the steering committee. I propose that we have one hour of discussion during Thursday’s meeting on our work for the fall so that we can agree on the content together.
11 a.m.
Liberal
Vance Badawey Liberal Niagara Centre, ON
Mr. Chairman, I can't agree with that, because we have already scheduled a pretty aggressive agenda that we're proceeding with on Tuesday and Thursday, as Ms. Block has already identified. On Tuesday we have witnesses, and on Thursday we're going to be dealing with the issues that we discussed today.
May I suggest again, not to be repetitive and with all due respect, that we roll this into Tuesday's meeting, based on the two hours we're going to spend on Monday dealing with this issue, and there's no reason other members can't show up at Monday's steering committee meeting to discuss the issue. On Tuesday, we can then discuss it in the standing committee, although we may not have that much time, because we do have witnesses scheduled. We can play it by ear on Tuesday to see how much time it will run into and then we can finish it off on Thursday, but to actually formally dedicate one hour on Thursday for this issue, I can't support that, personally.
11 a.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Luc Berthold
The proposal is therefore rejected by the committee members on the government side.
Mr. Aubin, would you like to make a final comment? We will continue the discussion afterwards.
11 a.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
I just want to make sure I understood what Mr. Badawey meant when he said that he cannot devote Thursday’s entire meeting to the discussion that we wanted to have. That is the clarification I wanted. The idea was not to devote the entire meeting to it, but probably half, which would allow us to hear from one witness in the second part of our meeting.
11 a.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Luc Berthold
Ms. Block, you have the floor first, followed by Ms. Watts.
11 a.m.
Conservative
Kelly Block Conservative Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK
Perhaps the members on the other side of the table are failing to recognize that any report coming from the subcommittee has to be ratified by the whole committee, so any decisions that come out of the subcommittee must be ratified by this committee. Therefore, I'm suggesting that you provide us time to hear the report of the subcommittee and to make decisions based on any recommendations that would come out of that subcommittee meeting. To me that is the process that all committees function by. I'm at a loss as to why members of the governing party aren't recognizing the due process that a committee goes through in setting their agenda.
11 a.m.
Conservative
Dianne Lynn Watts Conservative South Surrey—White Rock, BC
Whether we find the time on Tuesday or Thursday, I think we need to talk about the agenda. Time frames were laid out. Additional things were added that we were unaware of. A simple conversation I think would rectify things and we could move forward. If that much time needs to be allocated, we need to have a conversation at some point.
11 a.m.
Liberal
11 a.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Luc Berthold
It has been moved that we adjourn. I see that all the members of the committee agree.
The meeting is adjourned.