EVIDENCE Standing Committee on National Defence NUMBER 052 1st SESSION 39th PARLIAMENT Thursday, May 10, 2007 Le jeudi mai Standing Committee on National Defence CANADA [Recorded by Electronic Apparatus] EVIDENCE May 10, 2007 Committee Edited Evidence * Table of Contents * Number 052 (Official Version) Official Report * Table of Contents * Number 052 (Official Version) Témoignages * Table des matières * Numéro 052 (Version officielle) 52 10 05 2007 2007/05/10 09:10:00 House of Commons Comité permanent de la défense nationale Standing Committee on National Defence NDDN Chair Mr. Rick Casson 39 PUBLIC PART ONLY -

PARTIE PUBLIQUE SEULEMENT (0910) [ English ] The Chair (Mr. Rick Casson (Lethbridge, CPC)) : I now call the meeting to order. We have two issues to deal with today. First, in open session, we'll deal with a notice of motion from Mr. Coderre. We'll suspend after that's dealt with and move in camera to deal with the report. In the name of Mr. Coderre, we have a motion that states: It is recommended that the Standing Committee on National Defence report back to the House with recommendations on its study of the military equipment procurement process. Mr. Coderre, do you have any comments? Hon.

Denis Coderre (Bourassa, Lib.) : I think it speaks for itself, Mr. Chair. The fact that we had all those witnesses.... We did an amazing job, and our party will have several recommendations. I don't think we'll go through Afghanistan.... I would say it's kind of short and sweet, but it's to bring back a list of recommendations and show that we've done our homework. I can feel, from all the questions that we had from both sides, that there is some consensus on the procurement itself. We had some good propositions, and I believe it would be appropriate to have that report. So it speaks for itself, I would say.

The Chair : Okay. Are you going to move the motion, Mr. Coderre? Hon. Denis Coderre : Yes, I move it. The Chair : Are there any other comments? Ms. Black. Ms. Dawn Black (New Westminster—Coquitlam, NDP) : I support the idea of a very short report on procurement. I don't want to get into something long and complex, but something short and succinct. The Chair : I think the researcher would appreciate that as well. Hon. Denis Coderre : Jim's already smiling. The Chair : Wolf's not smiling quite as much as Jim. Mr. Blaney, and then Mr. Hiebert. [ Translation ] Mr.

Steven Blaney (Lévis—Bellechasse, CPC) : Thank you, Mr. Chair. What kind of deadline are we talking about exactly? I imagine we have to draft a report. Our analysts did not consider this. I suppose there are deadlines. Did we take that into account? Perhaps we should ask our clerk. If the motion is adopted, how much time do we have to produce a report? [ English ] The Chair : I think if this motion does pass, it does add an item to our already agreed to agenda.

I would think that at some point in time we'll have to have a steering committee, but in the meantime, if the motion does pass, the researcher can certainly be working on compiling a report. I'm not sure how long that would take. I don't even know if he has any idea. Mr. Wolf Koerner (Committee Researcher) : If there are recommendations that are going to be on the table, it would be good to have them before starting the draft so one could write to the recommendations, or not.

Because otherwise, you end up drafting a report, everybody puts in their recommendations, and we'll be going through the same sort of thing we went through again. The Chair : Mr. Coderre indicates his recommendations could be supplied as the report is being put together. I'll maybe just leave that out for all parties, that if there was something in the evidence that we heard that would prompt you to create a recommendation, then let's get that done and get it into Wolf as he's preparing. Mr. Hiebert. Mr.

Russ Hiebert (South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale, CPC) : I just wanted to say that I generally support this motion and would hope that, as was raised, it won't take too long for us to finish this and move on to our next study. (Motion agreed to) The Chair : Thank you. We'll suspend for a moment and move in camera. [ Proceedings continue in camera ]