EVIDENCE Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology NUMBER 001 2nd SESSION 39th PARLIAMENT Tuesday, November 13, 2007 Le mardi 13 novembre 2007 Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology CANADA [Recorded by Electronic Apparatus] EVIDENCE November 13, 2007 Committee Edited Evidence * Table of Contents * Number 001 (Official Version) Official Report * Table of Contents * Number 001 (Official Version) Témoignages * Table des matières * Numéro 001 (Version officielle) 01 13 11 2007 2007/11/13 09:10:00 House of Commons Comité permanent de l'industrie, des sciences et de la technologie Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology INDU 39 2 Chair Mr.

James Rajotte (0910) [ English ] The Clerk of the Committee (Ms. Michelle Tittley) : Honourable members of the committee, I see a quorum. We can now proceed to the election of the chair. I am ready to receive motions to that effect. Hon. Dan McTeague (Pickering—Scarborough East, Lib.) : Thank you. I think you will see as well that this committee has worked well in the past. I note that Mr. Rajotte is here. He's present, although I'm not sure about his mental capacity this morning. But I do know that Mr.

Rajotte has done some really good work for us in the past--a new haircut, new job, new tie, and 32% in the polls. [ Translation ] Madam Chair, for the first time in several months, I have the honour to move that Mr. James Rajotte be elected Chair of this committee for another term. Ms. Paule Brunelle (Trois-Rivières, BQ) : What about the tie? An hon. member: Sans cravate, but not sans-culotte. [ English ] Hon. Gerry Byrne (Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, Lib.) : That's why I don't want to leave this committee. The Clerk : It has been moved by the Honourable Dan McTeague that Mr.

Rajotte be elected chair of the committee. (Motion agreed to) The Clerk : I declare Mr. Rajotte elected chair of the committee. I am now ready to receive motions for the position of first vice-chair. Mr. Van Kesteren. Mr. Dave Van Kesteren (Chatham-Kent—Essex, CPC) : I would continue on in the air of good will and just state that Mr. Dan McTeague has also done an excellent job in that position and I would nominate him for that position. The Clerk : It has been moved by Mr. Van Kesteren that Mr. McTeague be elected first vice-chair of the committee. (Motion agreed to) The Clerk : I declare Mr.

McTeague first vice-chair. I am now ready to receive motions for second vice-chair. Mr. Carrie. [ Translation ] Mr. Colin Carrie (Oshawa, CPC) : Thank you. I would like to nominate Ms. Brunelle, if I may. [ English ] The Clerk : It is moved by Mr. Carrie that Madame Brunelle be elected second vice-chair of the committee. (Motion agreed to) The Clerk : I declare Madame Brunelle second vice-chair of the committee. The Chair (Mr.

James Rajotte (Edmonton—Leduc, CPC)) : Thank you very much, members. [ Translation ] Thank you for your support this morning. [ English ] I am very honoured to receive your election here as the chair, and I'd like to congratulate the two vice-chairs as well. I hope members had a very good summer. I know some members are obviously returning to the committee. I believe about half the committee is returning and about half the committee members are new. So we want to obviously welcome returning members and welcome new members as well. I think members will find, and have found, that this committee works very well.

We try to come together in a spirit of consensus and cooperation, as evidenced by the fact we've done one unanimous report and one near-unanimous report. I think even when we disagree, we are not disagreeable, so I hope we continue in that spirit. I think members have an interest in the motion before the House this morning at 10 o'clock, so I know some members want to have this meeting over fairly quickly. Or we can go on until 11 o'clock if members want. Mr. Carrie. Mr. Colin Carrie : Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

If it would please the committee, I would recommend that we move forward with the routine motions so that we can get that out of the way today. I don't think that will take too long. The Chair : Agreed? Okay. The clerk will distribute the documents dealing with routine motions. Do all members have a copy of these motions? (0915) [ Translation ] Mr. Robert Vincent (Shefford, BQ) : No. [ English ] The Chair : Do all members have both documents before them? We need this to function as a committee. Hon.

Dan McTeague : What I would do is put these with the provision for amendments on Thursday, and then you can take it from there. At least you could call a quorum to call a meeting for Thursday morning specifically on this, if you want. Mr. Colin Carrie : That sounds good to me. Hon. Dan McTeague : All right. The Chair : Does everybody have both copies of this document? [ Translation ] Mr. Robert Vincent : We have two copies of the routine motions. I would like to know if one is an old copy and the other is a new one. [ English ] The Chair : One document is the motions we're talking about-- [ Translation ] Mr.

Robert Vincent : Agreed. [ English ] I just have one document. The other document I don't have. The Chair : Just for clarification for members, one document is routine motions that were adopted by the committee in the last session. The one Mr. Carrie was referring to has routine motions that were submitted by the government because they have some changes they would like to have to the routine motions that were adopted by the committee in the last session. Mr. McTeague. Hon. Dan McTeague : Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just had a brief discussion on the other side, and I want to bring my colleagues into this.

In order to allow the next meeting to take place and to allow the opposition and other members to have a look at these proposals, it may be better that we adopt, in general, the traditional motions—as we saw in the previous session—until such time as we can actually proceed with consideration of these routine motions on Thursday. I would propose that we specifically look at these routine motions as the first order of business Thursday morning. I have not seen these. Mr. Carrie probably appreciates the fact that we want to go into these with a little bit more detail. I need an explanation from him.

Rather than going through all of this, in the interest of time we could accept the routine motions as they stood in the previous session, with a clear provision that we look at these new proposals Thursday morning. The Chair : Thank you for that, Mr. McTeague. I think Mr. Carrie was suggesting we adopt the new routine motions. You are suggesting we adopt the traditional ones, and discuss the new ones on Thursday.

Another option is we could adjourn the meeting, we could have members compare, contrast, and see what they like about the new motions or what they would want amended, have discussions away from the table among all parties, come back Thursday morning, and deal with them first thing.

(0920) Hon. Dan McTeague : Mr. Chairman, I just want to make sure you have the ability to call the meeting to discuss this, because without these adoptions you can't proceed with any amendments or any motions come Thursday morning. I'm concerned about that, whether you can hold a meeting without them. The Chair : Members, I do have the ability to call the meeting. We can still call the meeting for Thursday at 9 a.m. Obviously, with respect, we cannot deal with motions, so if members of this committee bring forward a motion before Thursday, we, as a committee, cannot deal with it.

As long as there is no member here who wants to present a motion, and as long as we're not hearing witnesses—and we're not scheduled to on Thursday anyway—then there's no problem. But we can, in fact, call the committee for Thursday at 9 a.m. Hon. Dan McTeague : That's acceptable. The Chair : I'm seeking guidance. Is it the will of the committee to adjourn-- Mr. Colin Carrie : Yes. The Chair : --to compare and discuss these documents, and we'll come back Thursday at 9 a.m.? Okay. Thank you very much, members. Obviously, after we adopt the motions, we'll greet the analysts back formally at the next meeting.

We do have a new clerk, and I did want to welcome her. Perhaps you want to say a few words of introduction. The Clerk : I'm Michelle Tittley. It will be a pleasure to work with the committee. [ Translation ] I look forward to meeting you all and hope that we will do good work together. [ English ] The Chair : Thank you. Thank you, members. We'll see you Thursday at 9 a.m. The meeting is adjourned.