The committee met at 1554 in committee room 1.

Appointment of subcommittee

The Chair (Ms. Cheri DiNovo): Good afternoon, committee members. We have a little bit of housekeeping business to deal with right off the bat.

Mr. Fraser?

Mr. John Fraser: I move that Mr. Crack replace Mr. Balkissoon on the subcommittee on committee business.

The Chair (Ms. Cheri DiNovo): Any discussion? Does anybody have a problem with that? No? Shall it carry? Carried.

Committee business

The Chair (Ms. Cheri DiNovo): As you know, the Lieutenant Governor has transmitted the estimates of certain sums required for the services of the province for the year ending March 31, 2017, to the Legislative Assembly. Pursuant to standing order 59, these printed estimates, upon tabling, are deemed to be referred to the Standing Committee on Estimates. All members of the House should have received a copy of the 2016-17 printed estimates when they were tabled on Wednesday, March 23, 2016.

The objectives of today’s meeting are twofold: (1) to select the estimates of certain ministries or offices for review by the committee, and (2) to determine the date on which the committee will begin the consideration of the selected estimates.

Standing order 60 sets out the process by which the committee marks its selections. Essentially, each of the recognized parties on the committee shall select the estimates of either one or two ministries or offices in each of the two rounds of selection. The official opposition selects first, followed by the third party, then by the government. After two rounds of selection, the committee will have selected anywhere from a minimum of six to a maximum of 12 ministries or offices for review.

In making its selection, each party also determines how much time is to be allocated to the consideration of each ministry or office selected. A maximum of 15 hours is permitted per selection. For example, if only one selection is made in a round, that single selection could be reviewed for a maximum of 15 hours. If two selections are made in a round, both of them could be reviewed for a combined maximum of 15 hours. How the division of those 15 hours takes place is up to the party making the selection.

At the conclusion of the two rounds of review, the committee could spend up to a maximum of 90 hours in scrutinizing the estimates of all the selected ministries or offices. Pursuant to standing order 60(c), these selections are to be reviewed in the order that they were chosen, and this can only be changed by an order of the House.

The estimates of those ministries or offices not selected for consideration will be deemed to have been passed by the committee. As Chair, I will report those estimates back to the House, and they will be deemed to be adopted and concurred in by the House.

Any supplementary estimates of selected ministries and offices shall be considered by the committee within the time allocated during the selection process.

In accordance with standing order 63(a), the committee must present a report to the House with respect to the estimates it has selected and considered by the third Thursday of November this year—that’s November 17, 2016. If the committee fails to report by the third Thursday in November, the estimates and supplementary estimates before the committee will be deemed to be passed by the committee and deemed to be reported to and received by the House.

I would also like to add a note: If members could please look at the list of ministries provided by the Clerk and give the correct names of the ministries when they select them. So, read from your list.

Do the members have any questions before we begin? No? Okay. I’m going to start with the official opposition: Mr. Harris.

Mr. Michael Harris: Ministry of Finance, 7.5 hours; and Ministry of Transportation, 7.5 hours.

The Chair (Ms. Cheri DiNovo): Okay. Third party: Miss Taylor.

Miss Monique Taylor: Ministry of Health, 15 hours.

The Chair (Ms. Cheri DiNovo): To the government side now: Ms. Kiwala.

Ms. Sophie Kiwala: Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, 15 hours; and Office of Francophone Affairs, 15 hours.

The Chair (Ms. Cheri DiNovo): Official opposition: Mr. Smith.

Mr. Todd Smith: Ministry of Energy, 7.5 hours; and Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, 7.5 hours.

The Chair (Ms. Cheri DiNovo): Miss Taylor?

Miss Monique Taylor: Ministry of Education, 7.5 hours; Ministry of Children and Youth Services, 7.5 hours.

The Chair (Ms. Cheri DiNovo): Okay, a slight hitch: The government side should have gone around twice. Strictly speaking, it’s out of order, but I guess the question is, would that change your picks?

Mr. Michael Harris: Sorry?

The Chair (Ms. Cheri DiNovo): Would that change your picks? They picked aboriginal affairs and francophone affairs. Would it have changed your picks?

Interjections.

The Chair (Ms. Cheri DiNovo): No, so we’re good to go. We’re moving on, then, to the start date.

Mr. Michael Harris: So which one is it? Is it aboriginal first, then francophone?

The Chair (Ms. Cheri DiNovo): Yes, aboriginal affairs, and then francophone.

Mr. Michael Harris: Okay, that’s fine. That’s all I’m asking.

The Chair (Ms. Cheri DiNovo): Start date: When are we going to start? We sit Tuesday and Wednesday, just to remind the committee—Tuesday morning and afternoon, Wednesday afternoon.

Mr. Michael Harris: We need to start next week.

The Chair (Ms. Cheri DiNovo): Next week? Official opposition?

Mr. Michael Harris: We got a week for notice. That should be enough.

The Chair (Ms. Cheri DiNovo): Miss Taylor, is next week okay for you?

Miss Monique Taylor: That works fine for me.

The Chair (Ms. Cheri DiNovo): Government side: Does next week work for you?

Ms. Sophie Kiwala: It’s fine.

The Chair (Ms. Cheri DiNovo): Okay, so we’re first up with the Ministry of Finance next Tuesday.

Miss Monique Taylor: Tuesday at what time?

The Chair (Ms. Cheri DiNovo): When do we start in the morning? It’s at 9 a.m. in the morning.

Thank you all for showing up. Some are happy; some are not so happy. With that, we are adjourned. Thank you.

The committee adjourned at 1601.

CONTENTS

Wednesday 6 April 2016

Appointment of subcommittee E-713

Committee business E-713

STANDING COMMITTEE ON ESTIMATES

Chair / Présidente

Ms. Cheri DiNovo (Parkdale–High Park ND)

Vice-Chair / Vice-Présidente

Miss Monique Taylor (Hamilton Mountain ND)

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

Ms. Cheri DiNovo (Parkdale–High Park ND)

Mr. Han Dong (Trinity–Spadina L)

Mr. Michael Harris (Kitchener–Conestoga PC)

Ms. Sophie Kiwala (Kingston and the Islands / Kingston et les Îles L)

Mr. Arthur Potts (Beaches–East York L)

Mr. Todd Smith (Prince Edward–Hastings PC)

Miss Monique Taylor (Hamilton Mountain ND)

Mr. Glenn Thibeault (Sudbury L)

Substitutions / Membres remplaçants

Mr. Granville Anderson (Durham L)

Mr. Chris Ballard (Newmarket–Aurora L)

Mr. John Fraser (Ottawa South L)

Ms. Daiene Vernile (Kitchener Centre / Kitchener-Centre L)

Clerk pro tem / Greffier par intérim

Mr. Trevor Day

Staff / Personnel

Mr. Jeff Parker, research officer,
Research Services