STANDING COMMITTEE ON REGULATIONS AND PRIVATE BILLS
COMITÉ PERMANENT DES RÈGLEMENTS ET DES PROJETS DE LOI D'INTÉRÊT PRIVÉ
Wednesday 10 December 2003 Mercredi 10 décembre 2003
The committee met at 1003 in committee room 2.
ELECTION OF CHAIR
Clerk of the Committee (Mr Trevor Day): I call the meeting to order. Honourable members, it is my duty to call upon you to elect a Chair. Are there any nominations?
Mr Bob Delaney (Mississauga West): I nominate Tony Wong as Chair.
Mr Tony Ruprecht (Davenport): I second that nomination.
Clerk of the Committee: Any further nominations?
Mr Ruprecht: And Vice-Chair?
Clerk of the Committee: We're just going to take care of the Chair first. No further nominations? I declare the nominations closed and Mr Wong Chair of the committee.
ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIR
The Chair (Mr Tony Wong): Thank you, Clerk. I want to thank all of you for your support.
We're now going to elect a Vice-Chair, which is item 2 on the agenda. Are there any nominations?
Mr Ruprecht: I nominate Khalil Ramal for Vice-Chair.
The Chair: Thank you. Any further nominations for Vice-Chair? There being no further nominations, I declare nominations closed and Mr Khalil Ramal elected Vice-Chair of the committee. Congratulations.
APPOINTMENT OF SUBCOMMITTEE
The Chair: Item 3: a subcommittee on committee business.
Mr Garfield Dunlop (Simcoe North): Thank you very much, Mr Chair. Congratulations on this easy election; the same for Mr Ramal.
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 any member therof, to consider and report to the committee on the business of the committee;
That the subcommittee be composed of the following members: the Chair, Mr Wong, as Chair, Mr McMeekin and Mr Martiniuk;
That the presence of all members of the subcommittee is necessary to constitute a meeting.
Mr Rosario Marchese (Trinity-Spadina): I would ask that I be invited to come to the subcommittee as a former Chair of this committee.
The Chair: Are we expected normally to invite the -- did you say former Chair?
Mr Marchese: I was a former Chair of this committee, and I am asking that I be invited to sit on the subcommittee with the approval, of course, of the members here.
The Chair: I just want to take the personality out. I'm asking the clerk if this is normal.
Mr Gerry Martiniuk (Cambridge): I would assume that Mr Marchese would be attending as an observer and as such, we certainly have no objection; we invite him. He's quite a jovial individual, and I'm sure we'll enjoy his presence.
The Chair: That being the case, Mr Marchese, are you agreeable to that, that you will be a non-participating member of the committee?
Mr Marchese: No, I would ask that I be invited to come and participate as a member, not just to come and look at the other members, for God's sake.
Mr Ruprecht: I have no objection to this. If Mr Marchese thinks he can make a recommendation or he wants to make some comments, I see no objection to that.
The Chair: Mr Marchese, I have been advised that this is not normally acceptable to a subcommittee; that you can come as an observer but not as a full participating member.
Mr Marchese: It would seem to me that if there's unanimous consent of this committee, we could do anything we want. Can we ask for unanimous consent of the committee?
The Chair: Mr Marchese, I was told that the unanimous consent will only work if it's permitted by the standing orders. But this is not permitted by the standing orders, so we simply cannot do it technically. So are you agreeable to being a non-participating member?
Mr Marchese: OK.
The Chair: So that's agreeable. I guess he has no choice, because it's technically not possible to give him full participating status.
Mr Ruprecht: Could you give a quick outline to the members of this committee as to what the subcommittee is actually going to do?
The Chair: I want to advise Mr Marchese that he can pretty well do everything that a full participating member can do except vote.
Mr Marchese: Thank you.
The Chair: Mr McMeekin.
Mr Ruprecht: Do you want me to repeat my question or are you recognizing Mr McMeekin right now?
The Chair: So the question relates to only the subcommittee, right, Mr Ruprecht? The subcommittee can meet and make recommendations, but all decisions have to be ratified by the full committee. It's basically reviewing the private bills and then making recommendations to the full committee.
Mr Ruprecht: So, then, I would assume that this subcommittee is meeting regularly and then making recommendations to us?
Mr Dunlop: Once or twice a year.
The Chair: I don't think we're going to be meeting on a very frequent basis.
Mr Ted McMeekin (Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Aldershot): This may or may not be helpful, depending on one's perspective, but the resolution that was put in the Legislative Assembly the other day, commonly and affectionately referred to as "5," would allow for a standing order to be put in place to have full participatory membership even when you're not on the committee. Once that's in place, once that standing order is in place -- and it's currently before the House -- then this will be easily accommodated.
The Chair: I assume if it's the intention and pleasure of this committee, then we can reconsider that matter at that time.
Mr McMeekin: That's part of the democratic renewal. We want to make sure that everyone who has something significant to contribute has an opportunity to do that. We wouldn't want to stand in anybody's way.
The Chair: All in favour of the motion? Opposed, if any? That is carried.
That's the end of the agenda. I declare the meeting adjourned.
The committee adjourned at 1012.
CONTENTS
Wednesday 10 December 2003
Election of Chair T-1
Election of Vice-Chair T-1
Appointment of subcommittee T-1
STANDING COMMITTEE ON REGULATIONS AND PRIVATE BILLS
Chair / Président
Mr Tony C. Wong (Markham L)
Vice-Chair / Vice-Président
Mr Khalil Ramal (London-Fanshawe L)
Mr Bob Delaney (Mississauga West / -Ouest L)
Mr Rosario Marchese (Trinity-Spadina ND)
Mr Gerry Martiniuk (Cambridge PC)
Mr Ted McMeekin (Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Aldershot L)
Mr Phil McNeely (Ottawa-Orléans L)
Mrs Carol Mitchell (Huron-Bruce L)
Mr Bill Murdoch (Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound PC)
Mr Khalil Ramal (London-Fanshawe L)
Mr Tony Ruprecht (Davenport L)
Mr Tony C. Wong (Markham L)
Substitutions / Membres remplaçants
Mr Garfield Dunlop (Simcoe North / -Nord PC)
Clerk / Greffier
Mr Trevor Day
Staff / Personnel
Mr Andrew McNaught, research officer, Research and Information Services