The committee met at 0903 in committee room 1.

ELECTION OF CHAIR

The Clerk of the Committee (Mr. William Short): Good morning, honourable members. It’s my duty to call upon you to elect a Chair. Are there any nominations? Mr. Barrett.

Mr. Toby Barrett: Yes. Good morning, interim Chair. I apologize; I’m sitting in the wrong seat, but I thought I’d jump in before anybody else does. I wish to nominate Norm Miller to chair this committee.

The Clerk of the Committee (Mr. William Short): Mr. Miller, do you accept the nomination?

Mr. Norm Miller: Gladly. Thank you.

The Clerk of the Committee (Mr. William Short): Okay. Any other nominations?

Mrs. Liz Sandals: We’d just like to second it.

The Clerk of the Committee (Mr. William Short): Seeing none, there being no further nominations, I declare the nominations closed and—

Mr. David Zimmer: Hold it, hold it.

The Clerk of the Committee (Mr. William Short): Sorry, Mr. Zimmer?

Mr. David Zimmer: I’d like the nominee, before he’s elected, to make a little speech.

The Clerk of the Committee (Mr. William Short): We’ll get him up in the chair and he can give a speech to everybody.

There being no further nominations, I declare the nominations closed and Mr. Miller elected Chair of the committee.

Applause.

The Chair (Mr. Norm Miller): Thank you to the committee, first of all, for nominating me as Chair, and I look forward to this job. From my understanding, the public accounts committee has been relatively non-partisan in the past, and I hope that’s a tradition we can continue. I understand it has done a lot of good work as well, so I look forward to chairing this committee.

ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIR

The Chair (Mr. Norm Miller): Are there any nominations for Vice-Chair?

Mrs. Liz Sandals: I nominate Mr. Barrett as Vice-Chair of the committee.

M^me France Gélinas: I second that.

The Chair (Mr. Norm Miller): And we have a seconder. Mr. Barrett, do you accept the nomination for Vice-Chair?

Mr. Toby Barrett: Yes, Chair, and I do wish to thank Ms. Gélinas and Mrs. Sandals for the nominations.

The Chair (Mr. Norm Miller): Any other nominations? No other nominations, so I declare Mr. Barrett as the nominated and affirmed Vice-Chair of the committee.

Applause.

Mr. Toby Barrett: Thank you.

APPOINTMENT OF SUBCOMMITTEE

The Chair (Mr. Norm Miller): The next order of business we have is to form a subcommittee of the committee. Mr. McNeely, you have a motion?

Mr. Phil McNeely: Chair, I move that a subcommittee on committee business be appointed to meet from time to time, at the call of the Chair or at the request of any member thereof, to consider and report to the committee on the business of the committee;

That the presence of all members of the committee is necessary to constitute a meeting;

That the subcommittee be composed of the following members: the Chair as chair, Ms. Sandals, Mr. Barrett, M^me Gélinas; and

That substitution be permitted on the subcommittee.

The Chair (Mr. Norm Miller): Any discussion or comments? None? All in favour of the motion?

M^me France Gélinas: Maybe I would have a comment. Are these the same terms and conditions that were there in the previous Parliament?

The Chair (Mr. Norm Miller): I believe they are, yes.

M^me France Gélinas: They are? Okay. Thank you.

The Chair (Mr. Norm Miller): All those in favour? Carried.

Now, that being done, we can move into closed session, and Mr. McCarter is going to brief us on a number of different issues, including some of the past work and business of the committee, which I’m sure will be especially beneficial for me, the Chair.

Also, as a new Chair, maybe it would be a good point at this time for the researchers to be introduced as well.

Interjection.

The Chair (Mr. Norm Miller): We can do that in closed session, sure.

The committee continued in closed session at 0908.

CONTENTS

Wednesday 29 February 2012

Election of Chair P-1

Election of Vice-Chair P-1

Appointment of subcommittee P-1

STANDING COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC ACCOUNTS

Chair / Président

Mr. Norm Miller (Parry Sound–Muskoka PC)

Vice-Chair / Vice-Président

Mr. Toby Barrett (Haldimand–Norfolk PC)

Mr. Toby Barrett (Haldimand–Norfolk PC)

M^me France Gélinas (Nickel Belt ND)

Mr. Phil McNeely (Ottawa–Orléans L)

Mr. Norm Miller (Parry Sound–Muskoka PC)

Mr. Reza Moridi (Richmond Hill L)

Mr. Jerry J. Ouellette (Oshawa PC)

Mrs. Liz Sandals (Guelph L)

Mr. Jagmeet Singh (Bramalea–Gore–Malton ND)

Mr. David Zimmer (Willowdale L)

Clerk / Greffier

Mr. William Short