Veterans Affairs Committee on Feb. 4th, 2009

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Okay. You'd start off with Liberal, Bloc, NDP, and Conservative. Then you'd go to Liberal, Conservative, Bloc, Conservative, Conservative, NDP. Then if there's a third round you'd just go back and forth. The second round is really where we're concerned. If there's a third round, I'll throw it up in the air for whoever is still here or still awake.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Do we need that repeated once more?

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

I can do it again, if you wish.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Do we have consensus?

Just go nice and slow. Make sure the clerk has it.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

The allocation of time for questioning would be Liberals seven, Bloc Quebecois seven, NDP five, and Conservatives seven. The second round would be based on five minutes, starting with the Liberals, the Conservatives, the Bloc, the Conservatives, the Conservatives, and the NDP. A third round could follow that same logic again.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Do we have agreement on that?

[Greg Kerr, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

I want to hear Peter ask a question.

I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, are we comfortable with the time allocation?

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

Yes.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

Right now I'm trying to do it on an open conciliation basis, so we might move to Mr. Stoffer's amendment rather than the previous one. I want to see if there is some kind of agreement there.

[Greg Kerr, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

I think that's reasonable, as long as there's enough time for everybody to question.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

What about the Liberal Party? Are members amenable to that?

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

I am told that this committee works well together in a non-partisan way, so if Mr. Kerr is happy with that, we're certainly happy with it on our side. I think it's a good way to start.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

I'm confident that with you here it will even get better.

[Judy Sgro, Liberal, York West, ON]

Thank you.

That's why he's Sweet.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

We have an amendment from Mr. Stoffer on this, and it seems that we have a bit of agreement. Do we need a vote? Is everybody in favour of this?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[Guy André, Bloc, Berthier—Maskinongé, QC]

That is fine.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

It is unanimous.

[Greg Kerr, Conservative, West Nova, NS]

Do you have it copied down?

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

I think we've repeated that one enough that we have a good copy.

I believe that brings us to the end.

Mr. Stoffer.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

As you may recall, it's usually the tradition of this committee, on behalf of the new members, to thank the previous chairperson for his work. Our previous chairperson was Rob Anders. I thought he did a great job as chair, and a letter from our committee thanking him for his work would be appropriate, I believe.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

I am prepared to draft that and circulate it at the next meeting for the committee's approval. Is everybody in favour of that?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, David Sweet]

There's one more thing before we adjourn. I'm willing to entertain a motion, because of the new members we have on the committee, that our first meeting be a briefing from Veterans Affairs. It would be an open meeting where they could present and be questioned, so everybody would have a comfort level about the department for which we are the committee.

Mr. Stoffer.

[Peter Stoffer, NDP, Sackville—Eastern Shore, NS]

As you know, we are also in a bit of a rush regarding the estimates, so they could be dealt with at the same time. It's pretty difficult to get department officials here twice in a row--first for “Hello, how are you, here's what we do”; and second on the estimates, which is a little more detailed. We don't have much time to get the estimates through.