Transport Committee on June 8th, 2017

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

—because I want to suggest that we invite the minister next week to talk about Bill C-49 in a prestudy because of the railway thing, the farmers' grain thing. Maybe if the minister can be here on Tuesday, that will let us—

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

That's a good suggestion.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

I think we could invite the minister to the prestudy of Bill C-49. We could address some of the issues to the minister that we heard from our constituents and all the stakeholders on that file. We will have to argue about this little part of Bill C-49 really fast, and we know we will not have time to discuss all of C-49 in September. Let's start on this bill next week. That's why it's important to talk about this on Tuesday.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

If that were possible, yes.

Ms. Block.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I support inviting the minister to come on Tuesday. That would build in the flexibility we're looking for, given the timing of the report we're about to receive. It would perhaps address the sense of urgency that I know my colleague across the way was responding to when he suggested we meet prior to the start of the fall session, and perhaps what I believe to be a very heavy schedule for a week in terms of the testimony we want to hear and given that we need to get names of witnesses in by Wednesday next week. It may be a demonstration to our grain farmers and those folks who have deep concerns about the measures due to sunset on August 1 if we were to bring in the minister to talk about Bill C-49.

We would do that anyway. I'm sure we would kick off a study on Bill C-49 by bringing in the minister and departmental officials, if that could happen before the House rises. Perhaps we could even focus on those measures due to sunset and get testimony from him on that. That could be a good way of addressing both the study being proposed for that time in September and the need to build in the flexibility that we're looking for on the aviation study report.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Go ahead, Mr. Iacono.

[Angelo Iacono, Liberal, Alfred-Pellan, QC]

We have no objection to inviting the minister. Although we hope he'll be able to make it, if he can't, we'll have to carry on with our work. Either way, we can ask the clerk to invite the minister.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Okay, so it gives us an alternative.

As far as the aviation report is concerned, if we get the report before six o'clock, we will attempt to deal with it on Tuesday. If we don't, hopefully we'll be able to get the minister to come in or someone who can talk to us for a bit of a technical briefing, even if we can't get the minister, but at least we'll do what we can.

On the recommendations for the aviation study, do I have direction from the committee to circulate them in both official languages to the committee members?

[Some hon. members]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Okay. All right, so we know what we're doing with that, and we'll see what we can do to get the minister.

Go ahead, Mr. Aubin.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'm not sure I understood that, or perhaps there was a problem with the interpretation.

For Tuesday, is the priority the report, if it's available, or are we going to hear from the minister?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

I think the aviation study needs to be what we're doing. We need to close that off, if we could do it on Tuesday and Thursday. What is the direction of the committee?

Yes, Ms. Block.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Madam Chair, I think the proposal by my colleague was that we plan for the minister to come on Tuesday, given the uncertainty about the report. At least then we will know that we've got something scheduled for Tuesday. If he can't come and all things align and we end up dealing with the report, that's fine, but I think in an effort to have something planned for Tuesday, given the uncertainty, we are proposing that we move ahead with the invitation to the minister for Tuesday, knowing that we'll get that part of the initial study on Bill C-49 done, and then we move to the aviation study report on Thursday, and perhaps into the following week and the next, until we rise.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

But being realistic, which I always am, once we get into Bill C-49 in the fall, we will be tied up with that for a while. Then we're going to have to go back, and if we don't do some substantial work on the body of the report and the recommendations on the aviation study, we will be going back to the aviation study sometime in the fall. That's a long time since when we heard the testimony, and so on.

If the minister were to come, he probably would only be here for an hour, so that would leave us one hour—

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

With departmental officials.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Right.

[Luc Berthold, Conservative, Mégantic—L'Érable, QC]

Madam Chair, if it's possible to get the recommendations, as was said earlier, I don't think we should spend a lot of meetings on the aviation safety report, given how the study was done. We, too, hope to be able to submit our recommendations quickly. As far as the official opposition is concerned, it should be possible to deal with the incoming report fairly quickly.

In two hours next week, the committee can do a lot of work, especially on Thursday. I think two hours is enough time to consider the report and make recommendations so we can get it adopted.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Go ahead, Mr. Aubin.

[Robert Aubin, NDP, Trois-Rivières, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Right now, no one is more torn than I am over these two proposals.

There is absolutely no question that we have to hear from the minister on Bill C-49. It seems to me that it will be a lot more complicated to get him here in September, given that the House will not be back yet and he'll likely be travelling all over the country.

I'd like to know whether my Conservative colleagues want the full two hours on Tuesday or prefer to spend an hour with the minister and meet with department officials in September.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

Go ahead, Ms. Block.

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

I think, given the size of this bill and the various modes that are covered, I would prefer to see him with his departmental officials for the two hours. I think that makes the most sense, kicking off such a large study.

I'll leave it at that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

We can certainly put out that opportunity and that request, whether or not that's possible.

If we were able to get the minister on Tuesday for the first hour, and if we could spend the second hour on the aviation study, we could at least get it started and go back to the aviation study and hopefully finish it off on the Thursday, and this way we'll have closed off that particular part.

The minister is planning to be available in September when we start the study. The minister and the officials will be, as they are with every study, our first people up, I expect, from that perspective. How about if we, on this one....

Is there any—

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Am I on the list?

[The Chair, Liberal, Judy Sgro]

You were, and you were off, and you're back on. Go right ahead.

Remember this is—

[Kelly Block, Conservative, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK]

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

We have four more meetings.