STANDING COMMITTEE ON FINANCE AND ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
COMITÉ PERMANENT DES FINANCES ET DES AFFAIRES ÉCONOMIQUES
Thursday 4 December 2003 Jeudi 4 décembre 2003
The committee met at 1006 in room 151.
ELECTION OF CHAIR
Clerk of the Committee (Mr Katch Koch): Good morning, honourable members. It is my duty to call upon you to elect a Chair. Are there any nominations?
Mr John O'Toole (Durham): It's my privilege as the Conservative member on this committee to nominate a person I have a lot of respect for, Mr Pat Hoy.
Clerk of the Committee: Are there any further nominations? There being no further nominations, I declare the nominations closed and Mr Pat Hoy elected Chair of the committee.
ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIR
The Chair (Mr Pat Hoy): Honourable members, it's my duty to call upon you to elect a Vice-Chair. Are there any nominations?
Mrs Linda Jeffrey (Brampton Centre): I'd like to nominate Mr Wilkinson.
The Chair: Mr Wilkinson's name has been nominated. Are there any further nominations?
Mr O'Toole: With your indulgence, I would nominate Mr Michael Prue.
The Chair: Are there any further nominations? There being no further nominations, all those in favour of Mr Wilkinson's nomination? All those in favour of Mr Prue's nomination? Thank you. I declare Mr Wilkinson elected.
APPOINTMENT OF SUBCOMMITTEE
The Chair: Now we'll move to the subcommittee on committee business. Is there a motion on the subcommittee on committee business?
Mrs Jeffrey: I move that a subcommittee on committee business be appointed to meet from time to time, at the call of the Chair or on the request of a member thereof, to consider and report to the committee on the business of the committee, and that the subcommittee be composed of the following members: the Chair, as Chair, Mr Crozier and Mr O'Toole, and that the presence of all the members of the subcommittee be necessary to constitute a meeting.
The Chair: All in favour of the motion? Those opposed? I declare the motion carried.
I want to congratulate Mr Wilkinson on his election as Vice-Chair of this committee and I want to congratulate all members as participants on this committee.
I think if you look at the legislative agenda in the House, you will know that we have the potential to be working very soon, and that would, of course, be determined by activity in the chamber. I look forward to your co-operation on this committee and I'm sure it will be an invigorating one for all of us.
Mr O'Toole: With your indulgence, Mr Chair, since there have been so many measures to increase revenue -- that's taxes -- I think it will be a very exciting time on this committee.
Mr Tim Peterson (Mississauga South): That a boy, John.
The Chair: Is there any other business?
Mr Peterson: Mr Chairman, I notice in the minutes that we are scheduled for a trip on February 4, 5 and 6, to five different cities.
The Chair: I'm not aware of that.
Mr Peterson: It appears in some documentation some place. I'm sorry for being late, by the way. My apologies. I was stuck in Tory gridlock, because they didn't spend the money. You have no idea of an agenda for travelling?
The Chair: No, I don't. That will be determined at a later date and you will all be informed in due time.
Mr O'Toole: Will we have any consultation? Members may be planning to do things in their riding or places close to their riding. We'd like to be consulted on any scheduled activities, if possible, through the subcommittee again.
The Chair: For members of the committee, the subcommittee will determine dates of travel, locations and times, so we'll have to wait for that.
If there is no other business --
Mr John Wilkinson (Perth-Middlesex): Just to be clear, our next meeting would be next Thursday?
The Chair: We don't know. That's to be determined in the subcommittee.
Mr Peterson: We could be meeting as early as Monday if it passes. I was sitting with the Clerk of the House yesterday and they were indicating that maybe there's some information. I understand we might even be meeting as many as two or three days next week because of the urgency of some of the stuff we're looking at.
The Chair: It's possible. The subcommittee has to meet to determine the date, and the House, of course, has to take the appropriate action to determine whether anything comes to this committee at all.
Mr O'Toole: Again, just a routine question on administration, in a serious vein: What is the schedule for this committee normally?
Mr Michael Prue (Beaches-East York): The normal weekly schedule for this committee is Thursday morning and Thursday afternoon. Currently, as Mr Hoy has pointed out, there is no business before the committee, so we have to wait until the bills are referred to the committee before we have an idea of what we'll be dealing with in the next week or so.
The Chair: Yes.
Mr O'Toole: One other administrative thing I have for our researcher, Larry Johnston: If there are any questions on these administrative things, does that fall with you or would it be more appropriate to go through the Chair? What's your phone number, Pat? What's a good number to get you at, Mr Hoy?
The Chair: It would be better if inquiries went through the Chair and then all members would be informed of the same information.
Mr O'Toole: OK, what's your number?
The Chair: You can go through the clerk for that.
Clerk of the Committee: It's 325-3526.
The Chair: Any other business? Seeing none, I will adjourn this meeting.
The committee adjourned at 1014.
CONTENTS
Thursday 4 December 2003
Election of Chair F-1
Election of Vice-Chair F-1
Appointment of subcommittee F-1
STANDING COMMITTEE ON FINANCE AND ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
Chair / Président
Mr Pat Hoy (Chatham-Kent Essex L)
Vice-Chair / Vice-Président
Mr John Wilkinson (Perth-Middlesex L)
Mr Toby Barrett (Haldimand-Norfolk-Brant PC)
Mr Mike Colle (Eglinton-Lawrence L)
Mr Bruce Crozier (Essex L)
Mr Pat Hoy (Chatham-Kent Essex L)
Ms Judy Marsales (Hamilton West / -Ouest L)
Mr David Orazietti (Sault Ste Marie L)
Mr John O'Toole (Durham PC)
Mr Tim Peterson (Mississauga South / -Sud L)
Mr Michael Prue (Beaches-East York ND)
Mr John Wilkinson (Perth-Middlesex L)
Substitutions / Membres remplaçants
Mrs Linda Jeffrey (Brampton Centre / -Centre L)
Mr Ernie Parsons (Prince Edward-Hastings L)
Mr Mario Sergio (York West / -Ouest L)
Clerk / Greffier
Mr Katch Koch
Staff / Personnel
Mr Larry Johnston, research officer
Research and Information Services