Legislative Assembly of Ontario

The committee met at 1603 in committee room 2.

COMMITTEE BUSINESS

The Chair (Mr. Grant Crack): Okay, I’d like to call the meeting to order. I would like to welcome everyone here to the Standing Committee on General Government. I would also like to say that I hope everyone enjoyed their time working back in the riding and also that you had a wonderful time with your family and friends during the holiday season. But we’re back to reality here and we’re here meeting today. I’d like to welcome the Clerk, Hansard and legislative research as well, who are with us today as we get back to the order of business.

Having said that, we have committee business to determine over the next number of weeks during this session. Now I would like to recognize Mr. Jackson, who has put his hand up first. Mr. Jackson.

Mr. Rod Jackson: I have a motion I’d like to put forward.

The Chair (Mr. Grant Crack): Okay. Feel free to read it into the record, sir.

Mr. Rod Jackson: I move that the Standing Committee on General Government continue its standing order 111 study relating to the 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games and the Pan/Parapan American Games Secretariat for at least six consecutive meetings; that the review resume on the committee’s first regularly scheduled meeting day that falls five business days after the due date for submitting the caucus witness lists to the Clerk, as outlined in point 3; and that the review proceed in the following manner:

(1) Each caucus may call three witnesses; each witness will be allotted a total of 110 minutes, which includes a 20-minute opening statement, a round of 20-minute rotations of questions and statements by each caucus, and concludes with a 10-minute rotation of questioning by each caucus. Questioning will begin with the caucus that called the witness to the committee and will continue with the party seated on the left-hand side of the party whose questioning period has just completed.

(2) Witness slots will be allotted in the following manner:

—The witness rotation shall be as follows: Liberal witness, PC witness, NDP witness.

—When the committee meets on a Monday, the Clerk will make every effort to schedule two witnesses.

—When the committee meets on a Wednesday, the Clerk will make every effort to schedule one witness.

(3) Witnesses will be invited to appear before the committee by the Clerk, with reference to a witness list of at least five names provided by each caucus. These witness lists must be delivered to the Clerk, in electronic or written format, no later than two business days after this motion passes. Should the first witness on any list not be available, the Clerk will be authorized to move down a caucus witness list until the list is exhausted, in an attempt to fill that caucus’s witness spot.

(4) In the case that a caucus’s witness list is exhausted or unavailable and no witness is scheduled, the Clerk is authorized to move to the first name on the list of the caucus next in the rotation. Should this situation occur, the witness should not be counted against the total witness count of the latter caucus but should be granted to the latter caucus as a bonus witness.

The Chair (Mr. Grant Crack): Thank you. Any discussion? Mr. Flynn?

Mr. Kevin Daniel Flynn: Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have another motion, obviously, that may be forthcoming after this one. But at this point in time, if there are no further speakers, we certainly would like to take a little break to go over this. We just saw it for the first time and certainly wouldn’t mind some time to just discuss it.

The Chair (Mr. Grant Crack): Okay, that would be fine. You’re requesting—

Mr. Kevin Daniel Flynn: Unless there are any other speakers. If you want to proceed with other speakers, that’s fine too. We can wait.

The Chair (Mr. Grant Crack): Okay. Is there any further discussion? Mr. Jackson?

Mr. Rod Jackson: Just briefly—I won’t take too long. I just wanted to mention that I think, especially in light of some of the documents that have been released, we certainly have some questions for certain members of the secretariat that—

Interjection: Changes in personnel—

Mr. Rod Jackson: And certainly, personnel changes have occurred at the Pan Am Games. There are a lot of things that actually happened since the last time this committee studied this issue, so I think it’s just relevant that we continue down that path and satiate some of the questions that we have.

The Chair (Mr. Grant Crack): Okay, thank you. Any further discussion? Mr. Flynn has requested a recess. Any particular amount of time you’re requesting?

Mr. Kevin Daniel Flynn: Ten minutes should do it.

The Chair (Mr. Grant Crack): We’ll take a 10-minute recess.

The committee recessed from 1608 to 1618.

The Chair (Mr. Grant Crack): Thank you very much, everyone. Back to order from recess. There was a motion put forward by Mr. Jackson.

I believe, Mr. Flynn, you have some comments you’d like to make.

Mr. Kevin Daniel Flynn: Thank you, Mr. Chair. We’ve had, I think, a fruitful discussion. What we’d like to see is an amendment that speaks to the first paragraph of the motion and the second paragraph. The amendment would have the first paragraph read—and correct me if you think I’m wrong here, Rod—“that the Standing Committee on General Government continue its standing order 111 study relating to the 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games and the Pan/Parapan American Games Secretariat for at least six consecutive weeks at a rate of one meeting per week, that meeting being held on the Monday; and

“That the Standing Committee on General Government study Bill 11, Ambulance Amendment Act (Air Ambulances), and that that meeting be held on the other meeting date, which is the Wednesday.

“That the review for the study relating to the 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games resume on the committee’s first regularly scheduled meeting day that falls five business days after the due date for submitting the caucus witness”—everything is the same, going through that paragraph.

The only other change, Chair, would be that the first paragraph would now read, “(1) Each caucus may call three witnesses; each witness will be allotted a total of 110 minutes, which includes a five-minute opening statement”—instead of a 20.

The Chair (Mr. Grant Crack): Ms. Cansfield.

Mrs. Donna H. Cansfield: I just want to ask, does that change the 110, then? Because it’s 20, 20, 20 and five.

Mr. Kevin Daniel Flynn: Yes, I suppose it would.

Mrs. Donna H. Cansfield: It changes the 110.

Mr. Kevin Daniel Flynn: That would change to 95. Rod, are you—

Mr. Rod Jackson: All right. So you’re changing the total of—

Mr. John Fraser: We’re taking 15 minutes off, so that’s 95. It would be—

Mr. Rod Jackson: Oh, I’ve got you. Yes, okay. Sorry, yes.

Mr. John Fraser: It’s 95.

Mr. Rod Jackson: I’ve got you. Yes, all right.

Mr. Kevin Daniel Flynn: That’s the amendment.

The Chair (Mr. Grant Crack): Thank you for that. I think we have that amendment—

Mr. Kevin Daniel Flynn: I think we agree on the idea behind it.

The Chair (Mr. Grant Crack): Okay. What we’ll do, with the committee’s approval, would be to take about a 10-minute recess to allow the Clerks’ office to put this into print so that we could just verify the changes that are being made. Is that fair enough?

Okay. So we’ll have a 10-minute recess, approximately.

The committee recessed from 1622 to 1644.

The Chair (Mr. Grant Crack): Okay, back to order. Thank you, Madam Clerk, for preparing this in writing. Mr. Jackson, is it possible that you would withdraw?

Mr. Rod Jackson: Yes, I withdraw the original motion. I have a new motion in its place.

The Chair (Mr. Grant Crack): You have a new motion? That’s fantastic. Would you like to read it into the record?

Mr. Rod Jackson: Yes, thank you.

I move that the Standing Committee on General Government continue its standing order 111 study relating to the 2015 Pan/Parapan American Games and the Pan/Parapan American Games Secretariat for at least six consecutive weeks, at a rate of one meeting per week, that meeting being held on Mondays; that the review resume on the committee’s first regularly scheduled meeting day that falls five business days after the due date for submitting the caucus witness lists to the Clerk, as outlined in point 3; and that the review proceed in the following manner:

(1) Each caucus may call three witnesses; each witness will be allotted a total of 110 minutes, which includes a five-minute opening statement, a round of 25-minute rotations of questions and statements by each caucus, and concludes with a 10-minute rotation of questioning by each caucus. Questioning will begin with the caucus that called the witness to the committee and will continue with the party seated on the left-hand side of the party whose questioning period has just completed.

(2) Witness slots will be allotted in the following manner:

—The witness rotation shall be as follows: Liberal witness, PC witness, NDP witness;

—The Clerk will make every effort to schedule two witnesses per meeting.

(3) Witnesses will be invited to appear before the committee by the Clerk, with reference to a witness list of at least five names provided by each caucus. These witness lists must be delivered to the Clerk, in electronic or written format, no later than two business days after this motion passes. Should the first witness on any list not be available, the Clerk will be authorized to move down a caucus witness list until the list is exhausted, in an attempt to fill that caucus’s witness spot.

(4) In the case that a caucus’s witness list is exhausted or unavailable and no witness is scheduled, the Clerk is authorized to move to the first name on the list of the caucus next in the rotation. Should this situation occur, the witness should not be counted against the total witness count of the latter caucus but should be granted to the latter caucus as a bonus witness; and

That the Standing Committee on General Government meet to consider Bill 11, An Act to amend the Ambulance Act with respect to air ambulance services, and that those meetings take place on Wednesdays, for as many meetings as the committee requires to dispose of the bill.

The Chair (Mr. Grant Crack): Thank you very much, Mr. Jackson. Further discussion on the motion?

Mr. Flynn.

Mr. Kevin Daniel Flynn: I just want to thank Mr. Jackson and presumably his colleagues for their consideration in this regard.

The Chair (Mr. Grant Crack): Any further discussion? Those in favour? Any opposed? The motion is carried.

The Chair (Mr. Grant Crack): I believe there’s no further business of the committee to conduct today.

Does the committee wish to call a subcommittee meeting to discuss some of the details?

Mr. Fraser?

Mr. John Fraser: I just want a clarification on the first date for calling witnesses so we can—

Mr. Rod Jackson: I think it’s March 3.

Mr. John Fraser: It’ll give enough time. Okay.

The Chair (Mr. Grant Crack): So we’ll require the witness lists, according to the Clerk, this Friday.

Any further discussion? Thank you very much. This meeting is adjourned.

The committee adjourned at 1648.

CONTENTS

Wednesday 19 February 2014

Committee business G-479

STANDING COMMITTEE ON GENERAL GOVERNMENT

Chair / Président

Mr. Grant Crack (Glengarry–Prescott–Russell L)

Vice-Chair / Vice-Présidente

Mrs. Donna H. Cansfield (Etobicoke Centre / Etobicoke-Centre L)

Ms. Sarah Campbell (Kenora–Rainy River ND)

Mrs. Donna H. Cansfield (Etobicoke Centre / Etobicoke-Centre L)

Mr. Grant Crack (Glengarry–Prescott–Russell L)

Ms. Dipika Damerla (Mississauga East–Cooksville / Mississauga-Est–Cooksville L)

Mr. John Fraser (Ottawa South L)

Mr. Michael Harris (Kitchener–Conestoga PC)

Ms. Peggy Sattler (London West ND)

Ms. Laurie Scott (Haliburton–Kawartha Lakes–Brock PC)

Mr. Jeff Yurek (Elgin–Middlesex–London PC)

Substitutions / Membres remplaçants

Mr. Kevin Daniel Flynn (Oakville L)

Mr. Rod Jackson (Barrie PC)

Mr. Rob E. Milligan (Northumberland–Quinte West PC)

Clerk / Greffière

Ms. Sylwia Przezdziecki

Staff / Personnel

Ms. Anne Marzalik, research officer,
Research Services