HAFF Committee Meeting
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MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS
Meeting No. 1
Wednesday, February 7, 2001
The Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs met at 3:30 p.m. this day, in Room 112-N, Centre Block.
Members of the Committee present: Stéphane Bergeron, Rick Borotsik, Yvon Godin, Michel Guimond, Joe Jordan, Derek Lee, Paul Macklin, Grant McNally, Carolyn Parrish, Geoff Regan, John Reynolds, John Richardson, Jacques Saada, Chuck Strahl and Tony Tirabassi.
Acting Members present: John Mahoney for Marlene Catterall; Georges Farrah for Carolyn Parrish from 3:30 p.m. to 3:40 p.m.
In attendance: From the Library of Parliament: James Robertson, Research Officer.
The Clerk of the Committee presided over the election of the Chair of the Committee.
John Reynolds, seconded by Geoff Regan, moved - That, Derek Lee do take the Chair of this Committee.
The question being put on the motion, it was agreed to.
Accordingly, Derek Lee took the Chair.
On motion of Chuck Strahl, seconded by Steve Mahoney, it was agreed, - That, John Reynolds be elected as Vice-Chair of this Committee.
On motion of John Reynolds, seconded by Geoff Regan, it was agreed, - That, Jacques Saada be elected Vice-Chair of the Committee.
On motion of Rick Borotsik, it was agreed, - That, the five Whips be delegated the authority to act as the Striking Committee pursuant to Standing Orders 104, 113 and 114 and, provided that the recommendations are unanimous and a copy of the report is signed by all five Whips, or their representatives, they present their recommendations directly to the Chair of the Committee for presentation to the House on behalf of the Committee.
On motion of Geoff Regan, it was agreed, - That, a Sub-Committee on agenda and procedure, consisting of Stéphane Bergeron, Rick Borotsik, Yvon Godin, Derek Lee, John Reynolds and Jacques Saada be established.
After debate, on motion of Jacques Saada, it was agreed - That, subject to the adoption by the House of the list of Associate Members to the Committee, the Sub-Committee on Private Members' Business be composed of Bill Blaikie, Rick Borotsik, Garry Breitkreuz, Michel Guimond Carolyn Parrish and Marcel Proulx;
That Carolyn Parrish be appointed Chair of the Sub-committee; and
That the Sub-committee be charged with carrying out the responsibilities of the Committee under Standing Order 108(3)(a) insofar as Private Members’ Business and the business related to Private Bills is concerned; and
That the Sub-committee be granted the same powers as the Committee has and enjoys pursuant to Standing Order 108(1)(a) except the power to report directly to the House.
After debate, on motion of Stéphane Bergeron, it was agreed – That, the Chair be authorized to hold meetings and to receive evidence when a quorum is not present, provided that at least three members are present, including one member of the opposition.
On motion of Carolyn Parrish, it was agreed - That the Committee retain the services of one or more Research Officers from the Library of Parliament, as needed, to assist the Committee in its work, at the discretion of the Chair.
On motion of Rick Borotsik, it was agreed, - That, at the discretion of the Chair, reasonable travelling expenses, as per the regulation established by the Board of Internal Economy, be paid if necessary to witnesses invited to appear before the Committee, and that for such payment of expenses a limit of one (1) representative per organization be established (unless otherwise ordered by the Sub-Committee on Agenda and Procedure).
On motion of Geoff Regan, it was agreed – That the Clerk of the Committee be authorized to circulate documents received only when they exist in both official languages.
Mr. Strahl moved – That the committee prepare and report to the House the following standing order change to accompany the report establishing the list of committee members pursuant to Standing Order 104(1).
That Standing Order 106 be replaced with:
106 (1) Within ten sitting days following the adoption by the House of a report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs pursuant to Standing Order 104(1), the Clerk of the House shall convene a meeting of each standing committee whose membership is contained in that report for the purpose of electing a Chairman, provided that forty-eighty hours notice is given of any such meeting.
(2) Each standing or special committee shall elect a Chairman and two Vice-Chairmen, of whom two shall be Members of the government party and the third a Member in opposition to the government at the commencement of every session and, if necessary, during the course of a session by secret ballot as follows:
(3) The clerk of the committee will preside over the election of the Chairman and will ask for nominations from the floor. After the nominations are closed, the clerk will announce the candidates to the committee members, and if necessary, list the names on a board in view of all committee members.
(4) The clerk of the committee shall provide committee members present with ballot papers.
(5) Members wishing to indicate their choice for Chairman shall print the first and last name of the Member on the ballot paper.
(6)(a) Members shall deposit their complete ballot papers in a box provided for that purpose on the table.
(6)(b) The clerk of the committee shall, once all Members wishing to do so have deposited their ballot papers, empty box and count the ballots and being satisfied as to the accuracy of the count, shall destroy the ballots together with all records of the number of ballots cast for each candidate and the Clerk shall in no way divulge the number of ballots cast for any candidate.
(6c) In the event of one Member having received a majority of the votes cast, the Clerk shall announce the new Chairman to the committee.
6(d) In the event of no Member having received a majority of votes cast, the candidate with the least number of votes cast will be dropped from the ballot. Another ballot will be taken. This process will be continued until a Member receives a majority of votes.
(6)(e) Any Member wishing to withdraw their name may do so at any time.
(7) Within ten sitting days of the receipt, by the clerk of a standing committee, of a request signed by any four members of the said committee, the Chairman of the said committee shall convene such a meeting provided that forty-eight hours notice is given of the meeting. For the purposes of this section, the reasons for convening such a meeting shall be stated in the request.
And that the Clerk be authorized to make consequential amendments if required.
After debate, it was agreed to resume consideration of the motion at the next meeting.
At 4:13 p.m., the Committee adjourned to the call of the Chair.
Patrice Martin
Clerk of the Committee