AANO Committee Meeting

    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 would remind all members before I start that the clerk is only empowered to receive a motion to that effect. I can't entertain points of order; I can't recognize members in debate, and so on.

    Are there any motions for election of the chair?

    I move that Chris Warkentin be the chair.

    Ms. Bennett has moved that Mr. Warkentin be the chair.

    Are there any other motions?

    (Motion agreed to)

    The Clerk: I declare Mr. Warkentin duly elected as the chair.

     Before I invite him to take the chair, if the committee is in agreement, we can proceed to the election of the vice-chairs.

     Is that agreed?

    Some hon. members: Yes.

    The Clerk: The first vice-chair must be a member from the official opposition.

    Are there any motions?

    Ms. Hughes.

    I would like to nominate Jean Crowder.

    Madam Hughes has moved that Ms. Crowder be the official opposition vice-chair.

    (Motion agreed to)

    The Clerk: I declare Ms. Crowder elected in absentia as the first vice-chair.

    The second vice-chair must come from a party other than the official opposition but be a member of an opposition party.

    I would like to nominate Carolyn Bennett, please.

    An hon. member: What if there wasn't one?

     I guess it would be rather silly to ask if there were other nominations.

     Is the committee ready for the question?

    (Motion agreed to)

    The Clerk: I will invite Mr. Warkentin, as duly elected chair, to come to the chair, please.

    Some hon. members: Hear, hear!

     Colleagues, I appreciate your support, and I'm sure this is going to be a good year. I know we have a lot of work ahead of us.

     I think we should consider what we have on the docket.

    I know we weren't prepared to talk about future business at this point in time, but I wonder if there would be an appetite to set up a time that the steering committee might be able to meet, possibly as early as Monday.

    Is that something there would be an appetite for? I think that would probably be the most effective way to move forward in terms of planning our schedule.

    Sensing there is an appetite to do that, I think we'll undertake a meeting as early as Monday. We'll probably schedule it during the regular meeting hour, if that would be appropriate. Then we'll return the following Wednesday for consideration of the recommendations by committee of the whole.

    I've spoken to Ms. Crowder, with the anticipation that she might be elected as vice-chair, and she seemed to be amicable to that idea. If you, as a committee, would be in support of that, I certainly would recommend that.

     Ms. Bennett, if you have an—

    Yes. The parliamentary secretary has suggested that the legislation or motions that may come to this committee.... I was wondering if the Library of Parliament would be prepared to prepare a list of possible witnesses for upcoming work of the committee.

     There are a number of things that I've asked the analysts to undertake. I think we as a committee had asked them to do that leading into the summer. One is a compilation of the testimony we've heard in the past studies. That's one thing we asked for. I've also asked that they undertake to circulate that after this meeting. If there would be an appetite for that, I would certainly recommend that that be undertaken.

    The other thing we should do in preparation for the steering committee meeting is to consider what legislation will be coming before this committee.

    My understanding is that “transparency” is probably the thing we will see at this committee, first and foremost.

    I've asked the analysts to consider what witnesses they might recommend for the steering committee to consider, but if committee members have additional witness names, I'd ask them to consider bringing those to that meeting; we'll consider them as committee of the whole in the following meeting.

    Mr. Rickford.

     Notwithstanding the steering committee meeting on Monday and any direction they may get consensus on, there is somewhat of a preliminary schedule with respect to Bill C-27, because it may very well come up in the business of the House rather quickly. To that end, we have provided for briefings from the department on Tuesday of next week. That will be, or can be...I booked my office for that to occur, and I would encourage all colleagues to make their best efforts to attend. It is from 4:45 to 5:45.

    Can you send somebody, Carol, or did you—

    I'll check. I've already done a few swaps.

    Right. I can appreciate that.

     Thank you, Mr. Rickford. I know that committee members in general will appreciate your willingness to undertake that.

    In anticipation that Bill C-27 will be something the committee will be considering in the next number of months, I suspect, I leave the committee to determine when and how we undertake these reviews. The analysts have undertaken to do a legislative summary of Bill C-27, and I'm going to ask them to circulate that to committee members as well. That will be at your disposal.

    Three documents will be circulated to committee members: two as they relate to the study that we were undertaking prior to the break, and then the legislative summary as it relates to Bill C-27. It will be circulated to committee members. You can anticipate that. If you have any additional questions, we would ask that you bring those to the attention of those coming to the steering committee on Monday.

    We'll see everybody back on Wednesday. If there is no further business, Mr. Clarke has moved a motion to adjourn.

    The meeting is adjourned.