Evidence of meeting #1 for Veterans Affairs in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Yes. I would recommend five minutes.
Thank you for that question. I think that's important.
In other committees, I know they've largely gone to between five minutes and seven and a half minutes. Some have done five. That's what PROC did. Yesterday, for example, INAN did six. I know that some other committees have done seven and a half. I would propose five minutes.
Conservative
John Brassard Conservative Barrie—Innisfil, ON
Then you're proposing that this timeline would extend the level of questioning into a third round. Is that right?
Conservative
John Brassard Conservative Barrie—Innisfil, ON
Right.
Just so that I'm clear again, and so that everybody else is clear—because this is the first time I'm hearing about this—in the case of the Conservatives, it would be a six-minute first round and a five-minute second round, and you're proposing a potential five-minute third round if the timeline is good. Is that correct?
Liberal
William Amos Liberal Pontiac, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and congratulations on your election.
I just want to mention that I support the suggestions made by Ms. Blaney.
Liberal
Liberal
Marie-France Lalonde Liberal Orléans, ON
Mr. Chair, I'm just questioning if the suggestion of MP Blaney is for five minutes or seven and a half. What is part of her amendment to the motion, please? It's just for clarification.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
My recommendation is for five minutes. I just wanted to make it clear to the committee that other committees have had discussions and had moved it to between five minutes and seven and a half. I just wanted to make sure to share that information. My recommendation is for five.
Liberal
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
Just before we move on, does the clerk have any questions in terms of clarification on the amendment?
The Clerk
The amendment is that witnesses be given five minutes for their opening statements, and then when we go down the text of the motion.... I can read it all, and then Ms. Blaney can make sure that I have it done correctly. The amended motion would read:
That witnesses be given five minutes for their opening statement; that, at the discretion of the Chair, during the questioning of witnesses, there be allocated six minutes for the first questioner of each party as follows: Round 1: Conservative Party, Liberal Party, Bloc Québécois, New Democratic Party.
Then it would be:
That for the second and subsequent rounds, the order and time for questioning be as follows: Conservative Party, five minutes; Liberal Party, five minutes; Bloc Québécois, two and a half minutes; New Democratic Party, two and a half minutes; Conservative Party, five minutes; Liberal Party, five minutes.
Is that correct?
Liberal
Conservative
Dan Albas Conservative Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola, BC
Mr. Chair, I'm not a steady committee member, but one thing I would be mindful of is that five minutes can be awfully short, so if there is a veteran who has issues with speaking, I would just ask that you use a little bit of discretion—that all members use a little bit of discretion—to allow them to have their say.
Coming to this committee is probably one of the most intimidating things that a veteran can do, but I would hope that all members would just show a little bit of compassion in those unique situations. That's all I have to say. Thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
I would concur with that, MP Albas. Thank you for bringing that up.
MP Wagantall is next.
Conservative
Cathay Wagantall Conservative Yorkton—Melville, SK
Thank you, Chair.
What Dan has said is very true. We want to be able to know that they are comfortable coming and that they aren't pressured. Five minutes is so limiting. I would prefer to see seven minutes as the standard compromise.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
We will have to move and dispense with MP Blaney's amendment before we would discuss an additional amendment if we want to change that time.
Conservative
John Brassard Conservative Barrie—Innisfil, ON
Mr. Chair, if Rachel is good with this, what I would propose is that it could be up to seven minutes rather than just the straight five, but that the witnesses could have up to seven minutes for their opening statement.
That might resolve the situation of whether it's five or seven. At least we can give them up to seven. That might be a resolution.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bryan May
Again, that's an additional amendment that we would have to come back to. I just want to make sure we're staying in the realm of procedure here in terms of dealing with the motion.
The exception—and I'll confer with the clerk—would be if MP Blaney would amend her motion. I think that would be okay.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Mr. Chair, yesterday when I moved something similar in INAN, of course we talked about elders and needing the time, so that's why we felt it was important to leave it to the discretion of the chair. There was a friendly amendment for six minutes rather than five minutes.
I'm more than happy to see Ms. Wagantall's amendment as a friendly amendment to my amendment. I don't know if that's procedurally correct. I leave it to the chair.