Evidence of meeting #64 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 report.
A recording is available from Parliament.
June 8th, 2017 / 11:05 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair (The Honourable Judy A. Sgro (Humber River—Black Creek, Lib.)) Liberal Judy Sgro
Committee members, we're in open session as we deal with matters related to committee business.
Mr. Badawey.
11:05 a.m.
Liberal
Vance Badawey Liberal Niagara Centre, ON
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Madam Chair—oh, I'm sorry. We're in open session now. I was going to ask for permission to have my intern here, but we're in open session now, so it's not an issue.
11:05 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
The first thing that we need to talk about is our aviation safety report. At the moment, the best that our great analysts are able to do is to pull it together for us so that we will receive it sometime Monday evening. We can't do anything about it because they cannot produce it and get it out of translation before that.
Do you want to speak to it at all?
11:05 a.m.
Alexandre Lavoie Committee Researcher
Of course, if we receive it a bit earlier, we'll do our best, but currently it's the plan that we will have it probably around the end of the day. Soon after that you should receive it, unless something goes wrong, but that's the plan right now. I have confirmation from the translators and the people who will edit the documents that it's correct with them, so that's still the time frame, yes.
11:05 a.m.
Conservative
Kelly Block Conservative Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK
So if I heard correctly, you will get it back Monday by the end of the day?
11:05 a.m.
Conservative
Kelly Block Conservative Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek, SK
And then you will send it on to us, barring any unforeseen delays, and then we will need to have gone through it and be prepared to discuss it at 11 o'clock on Tuesday morning. That feels a little tight to me, and we're sitting until midnight the night before and probably dealing with a lot of business, and some of us may not have the opportunity to give it the due diligence it deserves after all of the effort that you and translation services will have made. Is the expectation then that we will be prepared to deal with it on Tuesday, or are you suggesting maybe that we get it and then start to deal with it on Thursday?
11:05 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
We had allocated the Tuesday to Thursday of next week to be able to go through the draft report and the recommendations.
What is the will of the committee? I recognize the fact that the analysts have told us they can't get it to us before. It is a lot to ask of the committee, given the hours. If we're there until midnight, I guess we could be reading it sometime, but it doesn't seem fair, as Ms. Block has said, to have to handle that.
So what's the will of the committee?
Mr. Aubin, what are your thoughts on that?
11:05 a.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
I was just going to say the same thing. It's not ideal, of course, but since Monday, like every other day next week, is going to be a long one, anyway, I will give it a go.
If everyone at the table can look at the report that evening, I suggest we start the work, since we most likely won't get approval Tuesday, anyway. We can still do some groundwork.
I think we can make an exception in this case and speed up our pace to make sure everything we've been working on for weeks doesn't go down the drain. You never know what's around the corner.
11:10 a.m.
Conservative
Alain Rayes Conservative Richmond—Arthabaska, QC
As I see it, it will all depend on when we get it. You said in the evening, but if I get it after six or seven o'clock, I honestly don't think I'll be able to give my feedback the next day, considering the long hours we've been putting in for nearly two weeks now.
What's more, I don't really feel like making my staff work after hours, Monday night, given all the long hours they've been pulling for a while. I'm not questioning, however, your efforts to get it delivered sooner.
If we can get it at a reasonable time, I would gladly make the effort to spend some time on it Monday evening, but I won't work on it until midnight; that's for sure. In any case, I'm on duty Monday.
Let's not forget the constant votes being called without warning. I don't want the committee to count too much on my contribution. I don't mean it in a negative way; I simply wouldn't hold out too much hope.
11:10 a.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Madam Chair, would it at least be possible to get the recommendations a bit sooner? That way, we could at least study the recommendations and focus on that piece Tuesday. After we deal with the recommendations, we could deal with the rest of the report on Thursday.
11:10 a.m.
A voice
Yes, we have them in both languages already, so—
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
That's a possibility. We have the recommendations from translation, and I was going to suggest, with direction from the committee, that we circulate the recommendations as soon as possible anyway so that we have between now and whenever, Tuesday or Thursday, to at least go over those recommendations and familiarize ourselves with them and have a chance to think them through.
Mr. Aubin.
11:10 a.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
I understand where Mr. Rayes is coming from. I'm wondering whether we could set a cut-off time, and if the report came in before that, we would go ahead and work on it Tuesday. Otherwise, we would put it off until Thursday. Would six o'clock be a time we could all agree on?
In a nutshell, if the report came in before six o'clock, the committee would start looking at it Tuesday; otherwise, it would wait until Thursday.
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Yes, otherwise it would go to Thursday. I think we need to leave some flexibility here. If we get it before six, that still doesn't guarantee that the members will have a lot of time to absorb and read it. We can go through it to utilize our two hours. I think we should see when we're maybe going to get it.
Mr. Berthold.
11:10 a.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Madam Chair, what I have to say may help us figure this out. The subcommittee wasn't able to meet to plan out the days and weeks ahead or specifically discuss the motion on the committee's study of Bill C-49, expected in September. Your assistant sent me a proposed schedule for the study of the bill. As we've seen, the stakeholders, namely grain producers out west and railway representatives, are anxious to know what the approach is going to be.
In terms of this study, before discussing the proposed schedule for September—
11:10 a.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Yes, I'm getting to my point. You'll see why I brought this up.
11:10 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
I'd like to finalize the aviation study direction first, and then we're going to Bill C-49.
11:10 a.m.
Conservative