Government Operations committee  Good morning, everyone. This is the first committee meeting of this 41st Parliament. Isn't that wonderful? I see a quorum. We can now proceed to the election of the chair pursuant to the Standing Orders. I am now ready to receive any motions you might have in this regard. Mr

Government Operations committee  I declare Mr. Mike Wallace duly elected first vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates.

Government Operations committee  Mr. Wallace has just nominated Mr. Pat Martin for the position of chair of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates. Are there any further nominations? Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt this motion? (Motion agreed to) Mr. Pat Martin is duly el

Government Operations committee  It has been moved by Mr. Blanchette that Mr. Mike Wallace be elected first vice-chair. Are there any other nominations? Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt this motion? (Motion agreed to)

Government Operations committee  We will now proceed to the election of the second vice-chair. I would just like to remind you that, pursuant to the Standing Orders, the candidate shall be a member of an opposition party other than the official opposition party. Are there any motions? Mr. Wallace, you have th

Government Operations committee  Mr. Boulerice moves that Mr. McCallum be elected to the position. Is it the pleasure of this committee to adopt this motion? (Motion agreed to) Mr. McCallum is duly elected second vice-chair of this committee. Now I would like to invite the chair, Mr. Martin, to take his sea

Government Operations committee  Do you want me to explain it?

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. The third motion on the list of routine motions pertains to this committee in particular. It deals with cases where witnesses from the same organization attend the same hearing. If the group of witnesses appearing in the first hour and the group appearing i

Government Operations committee  It is in the form of an instruction to the committee chair to canvass the committee if this situation arises or happens. In my experience, it happens very rarely because mostly you will have a set of witnesses for the first hour from one organization and for the second hour it's

Government Operations committee  The chair is part of the quorum.

Government Operations committee  If you wish, you can add “excluding the chair of the committee”.

Government Operations committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. In response to Mr. Wallace's comment, I have no objection. It will be my pleasure to send the notices of motion the same day they get to my office. That said, I wonder if we could agree on a deadline, from Monday to Friday. What if a motion is sent to me on

Government Operations committee  From Monday to Friday?

Government Operations committee  You will need to suspend the meeting before we switch to in camera.

Government Operations committee  Suspended.