Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources
Issue 1 - Evidence - November 7, 2013
OTTAWA, Thursday, November 7, 2013
The Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources met this day at 9:03 a.m., pursuant to rule 12-13 of the Rules of the Senate, to organize the activities of the committee.
[English]
Lynn Gordon, Clerk of the Committee: Honourable senators, as clerk of your committee, it's my duty to preside over the election of the chair. I'm ready to receive a motion to that effect. Are there any nominations?
Senator Massicotte: I nominate Senator Neufeld as chair of the committee.
Ms. Gordon: It is moved by the Honourable Senator Massicotte that the Honourable Senator Neufeld do take the chair of the committee. Is it your pleasure, honourable senators, to adopt the motion?
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
Ms. Gordon: I declare the motion carried and invite Senator Neufeld to take the chair.
Senator Richard Neufeld (Chair) in the chair.
The Chair: Thank you, and welcome everyone. I appreciate the support and look forward to the things that we're going to do here in the near future and the things that we will be discussing and working on.
I'd like to welcome new people to the committee. Senator Frum, who was part of our committee at one time, is back with us. We're glad to have her here.
Senator Boisvenu, it is a pleasure to have you on the committee. I look forward to hearing your input. We all appreciate the time it takes and appreciate what you will have to say.
And Senator Black, thank you for being here. It's good to have another Albertan in the crowd. I mentioned to Grant that you may support some of his things but maybe not all of them. In any event, it's good to have you here.
With that, we'll begin. We've got a fairly lengthy organizational meeting structure here. We have to go through each item separately, so we'll try to do it as quickly as we can.
First, we'll go to the election of the deputy chair, and I'm ready to receive nominations.
Senator Seidman: I'd like to nominate Senator Grant Mitchell as deputy chair.
The Chair: Any others?
Senator Mitchell, it's good to have you sitting beside me as deputy chair again.
Senator Mitchell: Thank you very much. Thank you all.
Senator Massicotte: Everybody else makes a comment, but I'm going to say it: We find you so nice when you are deputy chair here compared to how you are in the Senate. I keep telling them you're actually a good guy.
Senator Mitchell: I appreciate that. It's clear that people are beginning to realize that I'm actually rebranding. But I'd just like to say thanks very much. I've extended my chain of unbroken election victories, and it's always a great accomplishment for us in politics.
I would like to equally welcome people returning. Linda Frum is a great member.
New members — Doug Black from Alberta. It is a pleasure to have worked with you to the extent we have and I look forward to more of that, of course.
Senator Boisvenu — I was speaking with him this morning and realized that he had been the Deputy Minister of the Environment for a long time in Quebec, so he brings a great deal of depth and experience.
It has been a great pleasure to work with Senator Neufeld, as chair, over the last couple of years. This has been a tremendous committee, one of the best experiences that I have every week in the Senate. I look forward to more of that. Thanks very much.
The Chair: Thank you, Grant.
Next, we'll go to creating the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure. The motion reads:
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; and
That the subcommittee be empowered to make decisions on behalf of the committee with respect to its agenda, to invite witnesses, and to schedule meetings.
Senator Massicotte: I so move.
The Chair: Thank you. Do we need a seconder for this? No.
Next is a motion to publish the committee's proceedings. Can I have a senator move that the committee publish its proceedings? Senator Black.
Next is an authorization to hold meetings and to receive evidence when a quorum is not present. The motion reads:
That pursuant to rule 12-17, the chair be authorized to hold meetings, to receive and authorize the publication of evidence when a quorum is not present, provided that a member of the committee from both the government and the opposition be present.
Senator Patterson: So moved.
The Chair: Senator Patterson. Carried.
Motion No. 6 reads:
That the committee adopt the draft first report, prepared in accordance with rule 12-26(2).
I believe all of you have received a copy of that.
Senator Black: So moved.
The Chair: Carried.
Motion No. 7 reads:
That the committee ask the Library of Parliament to assign analysts 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-matters 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, analysis, summaries and draft reports.
So moved by Senator Seidman. Carried.
Marc LeBlanc and Sam Banks, welcome. It's great to have you back. I'm pleased about that. We've had you with the committee since I've been here in 2009, so it gives us some good continuity. We've always had good support from both of you, and we look forward to that in the future.
Next is the motion to authority to commit funds and certify accounts. It reads:
That pursuant to section 7, chapter 3:06 of the Senate Administrative Rules, authority to commit funds be conferred individually to the chair, deputy chair, and the clerk of the committee;
That, pursuant to section 8, chapter 3:06 of the Senate Administrative Rules, authority for certifying accounts payable by the committee be conferred individually on the chair, the deputy chair, and the clerk of the committee; and
That, notwithstanding the foregoing, in cases related to consultants and personnel services, the authority to commit funds and certify accounts be conferred jointly on the chair and the deputy chair.
Senator Ringuette: So moved.
The Chair: Carried.
Next is a motion relating to travel:
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.
So moved by Senator Frum.
Carried.
Next is the designation of members travelling on committee business:
That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be authorized to:
1) determine whether any member of the committee is on ``official business'' for the purpose 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 an event or meeting related to the work of the committee; or (b) making a presentation related to the work of the committee; and
That the committee report at the earliest opportunity any decisions taken with respect to the designation of members of the committee travelling on committee business.
So moved by Senator Black.
Carried.
The next motion deals with the travelling and living expenses of witnesses:
That, pursuant to the Senate guidelines for witness 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.
Senator Ringuette: So moved.
The Chair: Carried.
Communications: ``That the Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure . . . .'' —
Senator Massicotte: I so move.
The Chair: Carried.
The next item is the time slot for regular meetings: Tuesdays when the Senate rises, but not before 5 p.m., and Thursdays at 8 a.m.
Senator Black: Perfect.
The Chair: So that you know, there's a lot of discussion about this, but we will discuss it in steering. For the Thursday meeting at 8 a.m., we have no choice because another committee meets here at 10 a.m. For the Tuesday meetings, we're talking about moving the time to 5:30 p.m. or 6 p.m. because of the experience we've had in the past with witnesses who have often been held up and we don't arrive here until 6 p.m. I think we'll discuss that seriously and hopefully bring it back so everybody will tell us what they think.
Next is to adopt a motion to allow each committee member to be allowed to have one staff person present at in camera meetings unless there is a decision for a particular meeting to exclude all staff.
Senator Ringuette: So moved.
Hon. Senators: Agreed.
The Chair: Carried.
We should probably go in camera and talk about a few of these things that we've just done and maybe some future business. Could we have a motion to go in camera?
Senator Seidman: So moved.
The Chair: Carried.
(The committee continued in camera.)