EVIDENCE Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs NUMBER 001 3rd SESSION 40th PARLIAMENT Thursday, March 11, 2010 Le jeudi mars Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs CANADA [Recorded by Electronic Apparatus] EVIDENCE March 11, 2010 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 11 03 2010 2010/03/11 11:05:00 House of Commons Comité permanent des anciens combattants Standing Committee on Veterans Affairs ACVA Chair Mr. David Sweet 40 PUBLIC PART ONLY -

PARTIE PUBLIQUE SEULEMENT (1105) [ English ] The Clerk of the Committee (Mr. Jacques Lahaie) : Members of the committee, I see a quorum. We can now proceed to the election of a chair. I'm ready to receive motions to that effect. Mr. Stoffer. Mr. Peter Stoffer (Sackville—Eastern Shore, NDP) : Sir, I'd like to nominate Mr. David Sweet, please, as chair of the committee. The Clerk : Are there any other motions? It's been moved by Mr. Stoffer that Mr. Sweet be elected chair of this committee. Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion? (Motion agreed to) The Clerk: I declare Mr.

Sweet duly elected chair of this committee. Some hon. members: Hear, hear! The Clerk: If the committee wishes, we can also proceed to the election of vice-chairs. I would need a motion for the election of the first vice-chair. Mr. Tonks. Mr. Alan Tonks (York South—Weston, Lib.) : I would like to nominate Mr. Oliphant as vice-chair. The Clerk : Are there other motions? It's been moved by Mr. Tonks that Mr. Oliphant be elected vice-chair of this committee. Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion? (Motion agreed to) [ Translation ] The Clerk: Okay. I declare Mr.

Oliphant duly elected vice-chair of the committee. [ English ] Some hon. members: Hear, hear! The Clerk: We'll proceed to the second vice-chair. Mr. Sweet. The Chair (Mr. David Sweet (Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Westdale, CPC)) : I nominate Mr. Stoffer. The Clerk : Are there any other motions? It is moved by Mr. Sweet that Mr. Stoffer be elected second vice-chair of this committee. Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion? (Motion agreed to) The Clerk: I declare Mr. Stoffer duly elected vice-chair. I now invite Mr. Sweet to take the chair. The Chair : Thank you very much.

Thank you for your confidence in allowing me to again serve as your chair in this committee. The first piece of business is routine proceedings. I have a motion that I need to refer you to from the House. But first I think it's most appropriate, since this is a veterans affairs committee, that we take two minutes to remember our First World War veteran John Babcock, who, as you know, has passed away. He represents the last of a generation who fought for our freedom, democracy, and human rights.

Let's take two minutes of silence and remember those who paid the ultimate price in World War I. [ Moments of silence observed ] The Chair : At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them. Some hon. members: We will remember them.

The Chair: Ladies and gentlemen, you've likely seen that on Wednesday, March 3, 2010, the House of Commons made the following order: That, for all standing committees, routine motions in effect at the time of prorogation of the previous session be deemed to have been adopted in the current session, provided that committees be empowered to alter or rescind such motions as they deem appropriate. Accordingly, the routine motions that were in effect at the time of prorogation are reinstated. The clerk will reflect the House order in the minutes of this meeting.

The committee can, if it chooses, amend any of these motions. Finally, for information purposes, the clerk has distributed a copy of the motions to you. Mr. Greg Kerr (West Nova, CPC) : Not today, though; you mean previously. The Chair : Previously; that's correct, yes. Seeing no objection-- Mr. Robert Oliphant (Don Valley West, Lib.) : Our assumption--we were getting some conflicting advice from our whip's office--was that these were the routine motions about the way we work. The other motions needed to be re-presented.

(1110) The Chair : Yes. These are the routine motions about operations. Mr. Robert Oliphant: Procedural motions. The Chair: That's correct. Accordingly, with no objection to that, the routine motions are passed. Mr. Kerr. Mr. Greg Kerr : Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. I'm glad we're back at it. I think there's a lot of work to get done. I trust we're going to work in our usual cordial way as a committee on behalf of veterans. I do look forward to that. I also think it's important that we do reflect on the agenda that we did agree to, after a lot of debate and discussion, before Christmas.

I think there are a lot of items there that we want to make sure we move forward on. Would this be the time to suggest that we go in camera to discuss this? The Chair : Sure, if you'd like to do that, Mr. Kerr. Mr. Greg Kerr : I'm just saying that if we want to discuss future business, I suggest we go in camera, as we normally have. The Chair : Yes, okay. Seeing no objection, we'll take a moment to go in camera to discuss future business. [ Proceedings continue in camera ]