Proceedings of the Subcommittee on Population Health
Issue 1 - Evidence, February 25, 2009
OTTAWA, Wednesday, February 25, 2009
The Subcommittee on Population Health of the Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology met this day at 4:48 p.m., pursuant to rule 88 of the Rules of the Senate, to organize the activities of the subcommittee.
Barbara Reynolds, Clerk of the Committee: Honourable senators, as clerk of your Subcommittee on Population Health, it is my duty to preside over the election of the chair. I am ready to receive motions to that effect.
Senator Cook: I nominate Senator Keon.
Ms. Reynolds: It is moved by the Honourable Senator Cook that the Honourable Senator Keon be the chair of this subcommittee. Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
Ms. Reynolds: Honourable senators, I will have the page distribute the agenda for the organization meeting. In the absence of your duly elected chair, I ask for nominations for an acting chair of the subcommittee.
Senator Callbeck: I nominate Senate Cook.
Ms. Reynolds: It is moved by the Honourable Senator Callbeck that the Honourable Senator Cook be the acting chair. Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
Ms. Reynolds: Senator Cook, I invite you to serve as the acting chair.
Senator Joan Cook (Acting Chair) in the chair.
The Acting Chair: I invite nominations for deputy chair of the Subcommittee on Population Health.
Senator Cordy: I nominate Senator Pépin.
The Acting Chair: Senator Pépin has been nominated. Is that agreed?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Acting Chair: Honourable senators, in the next item I am asking for a motion that the chair, the deputy chair and I be empowered to make decisions on behalf of the subcommittee with respect to its agenda and to invite witnesses and to schedule hearings in conformance with past practices.
Senator Callbeck: I so move.
The Acting Chair: Is that agreed, honourable senators?
Senator Eggleton: Is it Senators Keon, Pépin and Cook on the steering committee, the same as the last time?
The Acting Chair: Yes. For the benefit of new senators, this is not a closed shop, but we are close to the end of our report and it would be a steep learning curve for a new senator on the steering committee.
The next item is a motion to print the proceedings of the subcommittee.
Senator Fairbairn: I so move.
The Acting Chair: The next motion is for authorization to hold meetings and to print evidence when quorum is not present.
Could I have a motion to that effect?
Senator Eggleton: I so move.
The Acting Chair: Is that agreed, honourable senators?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Acting Chair: The next motion is that the committee ask the Library of Parliament to assign analysts to the subcommittee, that the chair and deputy chair be authorized to retain the services of such experts as may be required by the work of the subcommittee, and that the chair, on behalf of the subcommittee, direct the research staff in the preparation of studies, analyses, summaries and draft reports.
Senator Fairbairn: I so move.
The Acting Chair: Is that agreed, honourable senators?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Acting Chair: Motion number 7 is authority to commit funds and certify accounts. We need a motion that, pursuant to section 7, chapter 3:06 of the Senate Administrative Rules, authority to commit funds be conferred individually on the chair, the deputy chair and the clerk of the subcommittee.
Senator Champagne: I so move.
The Acting Chair: Is that agreed, honourable senators?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Acting Chair: With regard to travel, I would invite someone to move that the subcommittee empower the chair and the deputy chair to designate as required — shall I dispense?
Senator Callbeck: Dispense. I so move.
The Acting Chair: Is that agreed?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Acting Chair: The next motion is with regard to designation of members travelling on subcommittee business.
Will someone move this motion?
Senator Fairbairn: I so move.
The Acting Chair: Is that agreed?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Acting Chair: Motion 10 is with regard to travelling and living expenses of witnesses.
Would someone move that motion?
Senator Eaton: I so move.
The Acting Chair: Is that agreed honourable senators?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Acting Chair: The next motion is with regard to electronic media coverage of public meetings.
Senator Champagne: I so move.
The Acting Chair: Is that agreed?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Acting Chair: Ms. Reynolds will tell us about the set time slots for meetings.
Ms. Reynolds: Honourable senators, you have the schedule. There will be a meeting tomorrow, Thursday, at 10:45 a.m., in this room. A notice has just gone out to that effect. The briefing materials and notes will be in your offices very soon.
Senator Callbeck: What witnesses will we have?
Ms. Reynolds: The witnesses tomorrow are on the whole of government approach to population health. We have Mel Cappe, the President of the Institute for Research on Public Policy, and Jim Mitchell, a founding partner of the Sussex Circle.
The Acting Chair: Under "other business'', we have attendance of senators' staff at in camera meetings. The motion is that each committee member be allowed to have staff members present at in camera meetings unless there is a decision for a particular meeting to exclude all staff.
Senator Champagne: I so move.
The Acting Chair: Is that agreed?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
Senator Champagne: With regard to the schedule, I see that on Friday, March 27, there is a round table. At what time would such a meeting normally be held?
The Acting Chair: In the past, we normally met at 9:00 a.m. and finished by 3:15 p.m.
Ms. Reynolds: In this case, the proposal is for a round table between 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. At 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., we have two witnesses. The expectation is from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Because it is a meeting outside of your time slot, as your clerk I will need to go to your offices and ask for your participation.
We have to give a list with the names of the senators who have agreed to participate before the whips agree to give us that time slot. I will, with the concurrence of the committee, go back and check with each senator so we can then get the witnesses lined up for that meeting.
The Acting Chair: If I could speak to that for a moment, I would strongly recommend that the meeting be a part of our study, because that is when you hear the real crux of what we are about. A lot of learning takes place there. I know it is a bit of a bind for me as I have to stay in the capital all weekend because of flights or whatever, but one of our best meeting times is over lunch and just casual conversations.
Senator Callbeck: I thought that at one time we had been talking about Population Health going out west and visiting some Aboriginal communities.
The Acting Chair: I had a corridor conversation with Senator Keon last week. I have a full calendar for the month of May and before we prorogued, we had agreed that we would make one more trip to the First Nations people of British Columbia. We planned to visit the reserves and not stay in Vancouver. We would visit people where they live and see how they live, much in the vein as we did in Eskasoni in Cape Breton and the First Nations in Brantford. I cannot overemphasize the worth of those meetings. That is something we will discuss at the steering committee meeting, but Senator Keon said it would be sooner rather than later, if we did it.
Are there any other questions? If not, I adjourn the meeting.
(The committee adjourned.)