EVIDENCE Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology NUMBER 016 1st SESSION 39th PARLIAMENT Tuesday, September 26, 2006 Le mardi septembre Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology CANADA [Recorded by Electronic Apparatus] EVIDENCE September 26, 2006 Committee Edited Evidence * Table of Contents * Number 016 (Official Version) Official Report * Table of Contents * Number 016 (Official Version) Témoignages * Table des matières * Numéro 016 (Version officielle) 16 26 09 2006 2006/09/26 15:30:00 House of Commons Comité permanent de l'industrie, des sciences et de la technologie Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology INDU Chair Mr.

James Rajotte 39 1 (1535) [ English ] The Clerk of the Committee (Mr. James M. Latimer) : Honourable members of the committee, I see a quorum. Pursuant to Standing Order 106(2), your first order of business is to elect a chair. I'm ready to receive motions to that effect. Yes, Mr. Carrie. Mr. Colin Carrie (Oshawa, CPC) : I move that we nominate Mr. Rajotte. The Clerk : Mr. Carrie has moved that Mr. Rajotte be the chair of the committee. Are there any other motions? Hon. Dan McTeague (Pickering—Scarborough East, Lib.) : Yes, there is one for a free dinner.

I'm going to hold him to it because he's gone back on a campaign promise. The Clerk : I take it that's not another motion. The committee has heard the terms of the motion. [ Translation ] Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion? (Motion agreed to) [ English ] The Clerk : I declare Mr. Rajotte duly elected chair. Before I invite the chair to take the chair, we will proceed to the election of the vice-chairs. The first vice-chair must be a member of the official opposition. I'm ready to receive motions to that effect. Yes, Mr. Lapierre. [ Translation ] Hon.

Jean Lapierre (Outremont, Lib.) : I nominate Mr. McTeague. The Clerk : Mr. Lapierre moves that Mr. McTeague be elected first vice-chair for the official opposition. Are there any other motions? [ English ] Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion? (Motion agreed to) The Clerk : The second vice-chair comes from a party in opposition other than the official opposition. [ Translation ] Mr. Robert Vincent (Shefford, BQ) : I nominate Paul Crête. The Clerk : Mr. Vincent moves that Mr. Crête be elected second vice-chair. Are there any other motions? [ English ] Mr. Colin Carrie : I second that.

The Clerk : Are there other motions? Is it the pleasure of the committee to adopt the motion? (Motion agreed to) [ Translation ] The Clerk : I declare Mr. Crête duly elected second vice-chair. [ English ] I would then invite the duly elected chair, Mr. Rajotte, to take the chair. The Chair (Mr. James Rajotte (Edmonton—Leduc, CPC)) : Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. There are a few announcements I want to make. First of all, congratulations to the two vice-chairs. They performed that function, I think, very well in the past, so I look forward to working with them again. I want to welcome everyone back.

I especially want to give a special welcome and congratulations to Mr. McTeague; he and his wife had twins on August 18. I just want to mention, Mr. McTeague, that's a day before my birthday, so we know they'll be two good Conservatives. All good Leos are good Conservatives. I also want to mention as well that we have lost Joe Fontana. Joe Fontana has stepped down to run for mayor of London. I say in a non-partisan way that I will miss Joe. I like Joe a lot. I had a lot of respect for him.

I thought he was a very hard-working member and certainly had a lot of interest in issues like science, research and development, which I think we should continue on with. I want to welcome Susan Kadis. Susan is a new member to the committee, so we should all welcome her. It's a very exciting committee, a good committee that works very well together, generally. We look forward to having you on the committee, Susan. We also have a new clerk, James Latimer, and we should welcome him to the committee as well. He's had a couple of meetings already.

He's very efficient, and he keeps me on top of things, so we look forward to his serving us. I'm told--and the clerk can mention this--that I actually do not have authority to have an agenda unless I have the will of the committee. I would actually like us--and I think I've spoken to a number of you informally--to have a meeting on future business. In order to do so, I need unanimous consent. [ Translation ] Mr.

Paul Crête (Montmagny—L'Islet—Kamouraska—Rivière-du-Loup, BQ) : We can meet for one hour, but no longer. [ English ] The Chair : We will, then, suspend for two or three minutes and we'll go in camera to discuss future business. I think the clerk has an agenda. We'll suspend for two minutes. The clerk will hand out the agenda, and then we'll go right into future business. [ Translation ] Mr. Paul Crête : Who are the two new analysts? [ English ] The Chair : We have the same excellent researchers we've had for a number of years. [ Proceedings continue in camera ]