PACC Committee Meeting
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STANDING COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
COMITÉ PERMANENT DES COMPTES PUBLICS
EVIDENCE
[Recorded by Electronic Apparatus]
Wednesday, October 3, 2001
• 1531
[English]
The Clerk of the Committee: Hon. members, I see a quorum.
Your first item of business is to elect a chair of this committee, and I'm ready to receive motions to that effect.
Mr. Philip Mayfield (Cariboo—Chilcotin, Canadian Alliance): I nominate John Williams.
[Translation]
Mr. Odina Desrochers (Lotbinière-L'Érable, BQ): I second the motion.
[English]
The Clerk: Are there any other motions? No?
It is moved by Mr. Mayfield and seconded by Mr. Desrochers that Mr. Williams take the chair of this committee as chair.
(Motion agreed to)
The Clerk: Mr. Williams, the chair is yours.
Some hon. members: Hear, hear!
The Chair (Mr. John Williams (St. Albert, Canadian Alliance)): Thank you very much, everybody, for that vote of confidence. I hope I can continue to enjoy it as we go through the rest of the year and through the issues we're going to be talking about.
Now, is there a motion for the first vice-chair? Mr. Bertrand.
[Translation]
Mr. Robert Bertrand (Pontiac—Gatineau—Labelle, Lib.): Mr. Chairman, I nominate Mr. Mac Harb.
[English]
Ms. Beth Phinney (Hamilton Mountain, Lib.): I'll second that, Mr. Chair.
The Chair: Mr. Harb is seconded by Ms. Phinney.
(Motion agreed to)
The Chair: For the election of the second vice-chair, is there a proposal? Mr. Bonin.
Mr. Ray Bonin (Nickel Belt, Lib.): I nominate Beth Phinney.
The Chair: It's proposed and moved that Beth Phinney be the second vice-chair. And that's seconded by...?
Mr. Alex Shepherd (Durham, Lib.): I'll second it.
The Chair: It's seconded by Mr. Shepherd.
(Motion agreed to)
The Chair: Before you run off, ladies and gentlemen, we have our standard motions that get the committee up and running, and the clerk is distributing them as we speak.
You may recall that there is a subcommittee of the public accounts committee that focuses on the issue of corruption. The first item is the election of the chair of that subcommittee on combating corruption. Are there any motions?
Mr. Philip Mayfield: I move that John Williams be chair of the subcommittee, Mr. Chair.
[Translation]
Mr. Odina Desrochers: I second the motion.
[English]
The Chair: Thank you, Mr. Mayfield—and it's seconded by Mr. Desrochers.
(Motion agreed to)
The Chair: Turning to the adoption of the third report of the subcommittee on agenda and procedure that the subcommittee talked about the other day, I think that has been circulated to everybody in both languages, and it's all there. Of course, the order is not necessarily as presented, because it depends on the availability of the witnesses. We have chapter 18, chapter 24, chapter 25, the Fryer report, chapter 31, chapter 10, the Public Accounts of Canada, the Performance Report of the Office of the Auditor General, chapter 19, chapter 20, and consideration of draft reports—and there were a number of these already prepared.
• 1535
Under number 3 here, we also have consideration that
a televised briefing
session—now, this has already been done, of course—on the Public
Accounts of Canada 2001 be held at 3:30 p.m. on
Thursday, September 27, provided that a quorum is
present. It was, and that meeting took place.
Do we have a motion for adoption of the agenda?
Mr. Philip Mayfield: I so move.
(Motion agreed to)
The Chair: The other point is that we have a heavy schedule. We had hoped this meeting would have been yesterday. Of course, we require 48 hours' notice of meeting. We'd like to have one tomorrow, though, but only if we agree. I'm asking that the committee meet on Thursday, October 4, at 3:30 p.m., to consider chapter 18—“Governance of Crown Corporations”—of the December 2000 report of the Auditor General of Canada. The witnesses are all set up for that meeting, because we thought this meeting was going to be yesterday.
[Translation]
Mr. Odina Desrochers: I so move.
[English]
The Chair: It's moved by Mr. Desrochers. Is there any discussion?
Ms. Beth Phinney: It's just hard to do it on short notice.
Mr. Robert Bertrand: Malheureusement, I will not be able to be here tomorrow afternoon.
The Chair: We need a quorum of five to hear testimony. That means no motions will be presented, but we never have motions anyway.
Is there any other discussion?
Mr. Philip Mayfield: Mr. Chairman, perhaps it would be helpful if you could give us a brief resumé of the chapter, if you are able to do that.
Mr. Jean Dupuis (Committee Researcher): The chapter deals with the governance of crown corporations. This focuses on the selection of boards and the formation of audit committees. There are aspects of certain weaknesses that were found in the governance structures of the crown corporations.
The Chair: I understand the briefing notes have been prepared, Mr. Mayfield, and they will be distributed later on this afternoon.
Mr. Philip Mayfield: Thank you very much.
(Motion agreed to)
The Chair: I think that is it, ladies and gentlemen.
The committee is adjourned until 3:30 p.m. tomorrow.
