Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Legal and Constitutional Affairs
Issue 1 - Minutes of Proceedings
OTTAWA, Wednesday, February 21, 2001
(1)
[English]
The Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs met at 4:35 p.m., this day, in room 257, East Block, for the purposes of holding its organization meeting, pursuant to Rule 88.
Members of the committee present: Andreychuk, Beaudoin, Buchanan, Cools, Fraser, Grafstein, Joyal, Milne, Moore and Pearson (10).
In attendance: From the Library of Parliament: Nancy Holmes and Jay Sinha.
Also in attendance: The official reporters of the Senate.
Election of Chair
Pursuant to Rule 88, the Clerk of the Committee presided over the election of the Chair.
The Honourable Senator Moore moved, --
That the Honourable Senator Milne be Chair of this committee.
The question being put on the motion, it was resolved in the affirmative.
The Clerk invited the Chairperson elect to take the Chair.
The Chair presided over the election of the Deputy Chair.
Election of Deputy Chair
The Honourable Senator Andreychuk moved, --
That the Honourable Senator Beaudoin be Deputy Chair of this committee.
The question being put on the motion, it was resolved in the affirmative.
Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure
The Honourable Senator Pearson moved, --
That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be composed of the Chair, the Deputy Chair and one other member of the committee to be designated after the usual consultation;
That the subcommittee be empowered to make decisions on behalf of the committee with respect to its agenda, to invite witnesses and schedule hearings.
The question being put on the motion, it was resolved in the affirmative.
Motion to print the Committee's Proceedings
The Honourable Senator Fraser moved, --
That the Committee print Proceedings; and
That the Chair be authorized to set the number to meet demand.
The question being put on the motion, it was resolved in the affirmative.
Authorization to hold meetings, to print evidence when quorum is not present
The Honourable Senator Andreychuk moved, --
That, pursuant to rule 89, the Chair be authorized to hold meetings, to receive and authorize the printing of the evidence when a quorum is not present, provided that a member of the Committee from both the government and the opposition are present.
The question being put on the motion, it was resolved in the affirmative.
Financial Report
The Honourable Senator Buchanan moved, --
That, pursuant to rule 104, the Chair be authorized to report expenses incurred by the Committee during the last session.
The question being put on the motion, it was resolved in the affirmative.
Research Staff
The Honourable Senator Cools moved, --
That the committee ask the Library of Parliament to assign research officers to the committee;
That the Chair be authorized to seek authority from the Senate to engage the services of such counsel and technical, clerical and other personnel as may be necessary for the purpose of the committee's examination and consideration of such bills, subject-matter of bills and estimates as are referred to it;
That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be authorized to retain the services of such experts as may be required by the work of the committee; and
That the Chair, on behalf of the committee, direct the research staff in the preparation of studies, analyses, summaries and draft reports.
The question being put on the motion, it was resolved in the affirmative.
Authority to commit funds and certify accounts
The Honourable Senator Grafstein moved, --
That, pursuant to section 32 of the Financial Administration Act, authority to commit funds be conferred individually on the Chair, the Deputy Chair, and the Clerk of the Committee; and
That, pursuant to section 34 of the Financial Administration Act, and Guideline 3:05 of Appendix II of the Rules of the Senate, authority for certifying accounts payable by the Committee be conferred individually on the Chair, the Deputy Chair, and the Clerk of the Committee.
The question being put on the motion, it was resolved in the affirmative.
Travel
The Honourable Senator Joyal moved, --
That the committee empower the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure to designate, as required, one or more members of the committee and/or such staff as may be necessary to travel on assignment on behalf of the committee; and
That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be authorized to:
1) determine whether any member of the committee is on "official business" for the purposes of paragraph 8(3)(a) of the Senators Attendance Policy, published in the Journals of the Senate on Wednesday, June 3, 1998; and
2) consider any member of the committee to be on "official business" if that member is: (a) attending a function, event or meeting related to the work of the committee; or (b) making a presentation related to the work of the committee.
After debate, the question being put on the motion, it was resolved in the affirmative, on division.
Travelling and living expenses of witnesses
It is moved by the Honourable Senator Beaudoin, --
That, pursuant to the Senate guidelines for witnesses expenses, the committee may reimburse reasonable travelling and living expenses for one witness from any one organization and payment will take place upon application, but that the Chair be authorized to approve expenses for a second witness should there be exceptional circumstances.
The question being put on the motion, it was resolved in the affirmative.
Electronic media coverage of public meetings
It is moved by the Honourable Senator Andreychuk, --
That the Chair be authorized to seek permission from the Senate to permit coverage by electronic media of its public proceedings with the least possible disruption of its hearings; and
That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be empowered to allow such coverage at its discretion
The question being put on the motion, it was resolved in the affirmative.
Time slot for regular meetings
The Chair informed the committee that the time slots for its meetings are 3:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoons and 10:45 a.m. Thursday mornings.
Future Business of the Committee
The committee discussed future business.
Adjournment
At 5:00 p.m., the committee adjourned to the call of the Chair.
ATTEST:
OTTAWA, Thursday, March 1, 2001
(2)
[English]
The Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs met at 10:50 a.m., this day, in room 257, East Block, the Honourable Senator Beaudoin, Deputy Chair, presiding.
Members of the committee present: Andreychuk, Beaudoin, Fraser, Grafstein, Joyal, Milne, Moore, Nolin and Pearson (9).
In attendance: From the Library of Parliament: Nancy Holmes and Jay Sinha.
Also in attendance: The official reporters of the Senate.
WITNESSES:
Panel of Academics:
Dean Louis Perret, Faculty of Law, Civil Law Section, University of Ottawa;
Professor Claude Fabien, Faculty of Law, University of Montreal;
Professor Alain-François Bisson, Faculty of Law, Civil Law Section, University of Ottawa.
Pursuant to the Order of Reference adopted by the Senate on February 7, 2001, the committee proceeded to study Bill S-4, A First Act to harmonize federal law with the civil law of the Province of Quebec and to amend certain Acts in order to ensure that each language version takes into account the common law and the civil law (See Issue No. 1, Wednesday, February 21, 2001 for full text of the Order of Reference.)
The Honourable Senator Joyal asked that it be noted in the minutes. That hearing other witnesses prior to the Minister and/or officials should not constitute a precedent.
The Deputy Chair explained that hearing other witnesses prior to the Department was exceptional, due to the passing away of the former Speaker, the Honourable Senator Gildas Molgat, yesterday. Officials from the Department of Justice will be heard after the adjournment next week.
Dean Louis Perret made an opening presentation and tabled with the Clerk a document entitled "Les systèmes juridiques dans le monde," and a CD Rom entitled "Les systèmes juridiques dans le monde," retained as Exhibits No. 5900 L1-S-4-1 "1" and No. 5900 L1-S-4-1 "2" respectively.
Professor Claude Fabien made an opening presentation.
At 11:25, the Honourable Senator Milne, Chair, presided.
Professor Alain-François Bisson made an opening statement.
At 11:40 a.m., the panel answered questions.
At 12:55 p.m., the Committee adjourned to the call of the Chair.
ATTEST:
Jill Anne Joseph
Clerk of the Committee