HUMA Committee Meeting
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Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities
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EVIDENCE
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
[Recorded by Electronic Apparatus]
[English]
I call the meeting to order.
Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome.
This is meeting number two of the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities. Today is Tuesday, October 29, 2013.
On the agenda today is committee business. I know that we have potentially some motions for discussion, but I must remind the committee that we need to adopt a set of routine motions to guide us through this session of Parliament.
Also, I'll mention that the expectation is that we will have bells at approximately 5:15 p.m., which may also interrupt the length of the meeting.
With that, I'll open the floor for discussion.
Ms. Sims.
Okay. I have a notice of motion for today, which is:
That in the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities, the Chair may receive a motion to move in camera only for the purpose of discussing:
(a) wages, salaries, and other employee benefits;
(b) contracts and contract negotiations;
(c) labour relations and personnel matters;
(d) a draft agenda or draft report; and
(e) documents or matters requiring confidentiality, such as national security;
And that furthermore, that all votes taken in camera be recorded in the minutes, including which member voted which way when recorded votes are requested.
I'm just giving it as a notice of motion. We will get the translation done. I wasn't sure I'd actually get to move it today.
—but in respect of the rules that we will be adopting, I didn't want to be going outside of those.
The Chair: That is understandable.
Ms. Jinny Jogindera Sims: Chair, I also want to take this opportunity officially to congratulate you on your election, and to say how delighted I am to be a vice-chair and to be the critic sitting on this committee.
This is a very important area for Canadians. There is nothing that is more important to Canadians right now than employment and decent-paying jobs. Also, the social development issues that come under this committee are all issues that are close and dear to my heart.
I also want to congratulate the parliamentary secretaries on their appointments. I look forward to working at committee on a collegial level. Occasionally we're going to have different points of view; I think that's part of the democratic process, but I want to want to say that I come to this committee to make sure that we find a way to work together in a collegial manner to tackle issues that are important to Canadians.
In response to that, one committee I've served on is the industry committee. As the chair of the industry committee, I greatly respect member of Parliament David Sweet, who has chaired it for a long time. He has said that in that committee he works on the basis of consensus.
I've been thinking about that notion today, to mention it to this committee. As much as we can, I believe it would be in the committee's interest to work on the basis of consensus, and of course, if that doesn't work—obviously, sometimes it may not—that we operate with a sense of respect for one another's points of view and get through the business that we're dealing with.
Chair, one of the key things for me is an adage I have tried to live by: let's agree to disagree without becoming disagreeable in the process. I think that if we all take that to heart, we'll do very well at this committee.
That's a dilatory motion, so we'll go directly to a vote.
The motion is to go in camera.
(Motion agreed to)
The Chair: We'll move in camera, so we will take a brief pause while we do so.
Could I ask for a minute's break so that I could have a quick word with the parliamentary secretary, please?
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