He's a really nice guy.
Evidence of meeting #9 for Veterans Affairs in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was access.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #9 for Veterans Affairs in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was access.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Sweet
Is there any other conversation around this issue?
Monsieur Gaudet.
5 p.m.
Conservative
Greg Kerr Conservative West Nova, NS
Having the chair of that association to lunch is a good idea. It's a good courtesy.
To the other point, I don't see any difficulty if we want to add somebody to discuss the union perspective. But I wouldn't want to take an already prepared part of the agenda out of there. It's okay if it's a matter of adding a few minutes or whatever at the end. These are all fairly restricted times, so I don't think it would be a problem if we wanted to add a bit of time there. I would rather not take anybody out of the agenda who's already there.
5 p.m.
Liberal
Judy Foote Liberal Random—Burin—St. George's, NL
I concur with that as well. It's important that we meet with everyone we possibly can, but I think we need to add it to the end of the schedule.
5 p.m.
Bloc
Guy André Bloc Berthier—Maskinongé, QC
As I said, either we add it on to the end of the schedule , or we. . .
5 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Sweet
May I make a suggestion that we have an extended working lunch. We'll include the president of the veterans association first, as Mr. Stoffer suggested. Then we will invite the union representative at the end of our lunch. We'll extend it by maybe 20 minutes. Most of the things we're investing in are 20 minutes at a time, so that should work out.
I've been on this trip before. You'll want to get out of Montreal as early as possible to beat the rush, so that will extend our visit to around 2:30 p.m. Is everybody all right with that, provided we get hold of these folks to make sure they're going to be available?
5 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Sweet
Is there any conversation about any other issue?
I will remind the committee that our next meeting is in this room at 10 a.m. on Thursday. We don't have a meeting on Wednesday.
Go ahead, Mr. Dhaliwal.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
Is this letter just for circulation, or is it an action item?
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Sweet
Mr. Dhaliwal, if you'd like to talk about an action item, I would be prepared to entertain it.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
We have a letter from Mr. Anthony Rota to the clerk of the Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs. The letter requests that Mr. Cotter be given another opportunity to address the standing committee. I would like to see the point of view of the committee.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
Greg Kerr Conservative West Nova, NS
I have no particular difficulty, but we've agreed to finish certain studies first, so I think we should stick with what we're trying to get done and add this later on. In other words, we're having these various presentations to finish up our review process. I think we should get that done first. I'm sure there will be a lot of requests for individuals before we're through. If we could put it later on, until after we finish the study, it might be for appropriate, Mr. Chair.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Sukh Dhaliwal Liberal Newton—North Delta, BC
Mr. Chair, at least we could have a commitment by the committee that after we finish the business the committee is working on, we would bring Mr. Cotter. Is that the consensus?
5:05 p.m.
Bloc
Roger Gaudet Bloc Montcalm, QC
That's in Timiskaming. It isn't exactly next door.
Thank you. That answers my question.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative David Sweet
There seems to be consensus that it would be after we're finished our current study. We also have the Dominion Institute after that, and a trip to P.E.I. to visit the headquarters of Veterans Affairs Canada.
Madam Sgro is not here today, but I can assure you that she would speak vehemently about this next matter. She and I both wanted to put on the schedule an organization that has developed a DVD that celebrates the Royal Canadian Air Force. We met the producers at the Dominion Institute when we went there for the breakfast, and I asked them to submit a letter to me regarding it. I have it in front of me here. They also sent a copy to Madam Sgro. She's not here to speak to it, but if there's no objection, we will add it to the schedule after our study as well.