CIMM Committee Meeting
Notices of Meeting include information about the subject matter to be examined by the committee and date, time and place of the meeting, as well as a list of any witnesses scheduled to appear. The Evidence is the edited and revised transcript of what is said before a committee. The Minutes of Proceedings are the official record of the business conducted by the committee at a sitting.
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37th PARLIAMENT, 2nd SESSION
Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration
EVIDENCE
CONTENTS
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
| ¹ | 1530 |
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The Clerk of the Committee |
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Mr. Massimo Pacetti (Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, Lib.) |
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The Clerk |
| ¹ | 1535 |
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Mr. John Bryden (Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Aldershot, Lib.) |
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The Clerk |
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Ms. Raymonde Folco (Laval West, Lib.) |
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The Clerk |
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Mr. Joe Fontana (London North Centre, Lib.) |
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The Clerk |
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Mr. Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre, NDP) |
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The Clerk |
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Mr. Art Hanger (Calgary Northeast, Canadian Alliance) |
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The Clerk |
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Mr. Sarkis Assadourian (Brampton Centre, Lib.) |
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The Clerk |
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Mr. Sarkis Assadourian |
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The Chair (Mr. Joe Fontana (London North Centre, Lib.)) |
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Ms. Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral (Laval Centre, BQ) |
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The Chair |
| ¹ | 1550 |
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Ms. Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral |
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The Chair |
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Ms. Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral |
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The Chair |
CANADA
Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration |
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l |
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l |
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EVIDENCE
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
[Recorded by Electronic Apparatus]
¹ 
(1530)
[English]
The Clerk of the Committee: Honourable members of the committee, I see a quorum. We can now proceed to the election of the chair. I am open for nominations.
Mr. Massimo Pacetti (Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, Lib.): I nominate Joe Fontana.
The Clerk: Is there any other?
¹ (1535)
Mr. John Bryden (Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Aldershot, Lib.): I nominate John O'Reilly.
The Clerk: I declare the nominations for chair closed.
I will explain the process. Since more than one candidate has been nominated, pursuant to Standing Order 106, I'm authorized to preside over the election of the chair by secret ballot. Before proceeding, I will very briefly explain how the process will be conducted. Nominations for the chair now being closed, my colleague Mr. Leblanc, who is the procedural clerk for the House of Commons, and I will stand at either side of the table, where we will issue ballots to the members. After members have written their choice on the ballot and deposited it in the box at the table, I will count the votes and announce the successful candidate. If no member receives a majority of the ballots, I will conduct another ballot. The same process will be used for the election of the vice-chairs if there is more than one candidate.
¹ (1537)
¹ (1538)
The Clerk: Honourable members, I declare Joe Fontana duly elected chair of the committee.
Now we will proceed to the election of vice-chairs. Two vice-chairs are to be elected, one from the government side, one from the opposition. We'll start with the government vice-chair. I'll open the nominations.
Ms. Folco.
[Translation]
Ms. Raymonde Folco (Laval West, Lib.): I nominate Ms. Sophia Leung for the position of Vice-Chair for the government.
[English]
The Clerk: Mr. Fontana.
Mr. Joe Fontana (London North Centre, Lib.): I nominate Gerry Pickard.
The Clerk: Are there any more nominations?
I declare the nominations closed. It will be by secret ballot, the same process. We'll hand out the ballots right now.
¹ (1538)
¹ (1541)
The Clerk: Honourable members, I'd like to declare Gerry Pickard as vice-chair for the government side.
Now we will proceed to the vice-chair for the opposition. I am open for nominations.
Mr. Martin.
Mr. Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre, NDP): I'd like to nominate Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral.
The Clerk: Mr. Hanger.
Mr. Art Hanger (Calgary Northeast, Canadian Alliance): I would like to nominate Diane Ablonczy.
The Clerk: Are there any further nominations? I declare the nominations closed, and again, we'll proceed by secret ballot.
¹ (1542)
¹ (1545)
The Clerk: I declare Madam Dalphond-Guiral as the opposition vice-chair.
Now I would invite the chair to take the chair.
Mr. Sarkis Assadourian (Brampton Centre, Lib.): Can we make the selection of chair unanimous? Is there such a procedure?
The Clerk: We just proceeded by secret ballot.
Mr. Sarkis Assadourian: All right. I just had to ask the question.
The Chair (Mr. Joe Fontana (London North Centre, Lib.)): Thank you, colleagues, for your support and confidence, and congratulations to our remaining vice-chairs.
One of the things I think this committee has always prided itself on is working for one purpose, to try the best we can to put forward unanimous, or as close thereto as possible, reports or policies and to try to come together in an non-partisan fashion. I believe we can continue to do that on some very important issues. I see that we have some new members.
Before I proceed with asking whether or not the committee wants to consider the interim report on the national ID card, I would like very much to say thank you to Nicole Brunet, who, as you know, has been our departmental liaison person on the committee. She has probably attended more committee meetings than some of the members, and she has been invaluable to us. I want to thank her on behalf of the committee. She's moving on to bigger and better things within the department, I understand. So thank you, Nicole, for all your assistance.
I want to welcome Vanessa Moss-Norbury to our committee. You'll find that we're pretty easy on departmental people, if they're easy on us. Welcome to the committee.
I think we had planned to take the next hour or so to go through the draft report on the national ID card. Are there any problems with proceeding on that basis?
Madeleine.
[Translation]
Ms. Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral (Laval Centre, BQ): I believe we could indeed devote a full hour to this subject. However, before we begin, I'd like to clarify something.
Yesterday, Mr. Chairman, we received a notice of meeting indicating that two witnesses were scheduled to appear before the committee on Thursday. I was fairly certain that the committee was in limbo, so to speak. Therefore, how is it that a notice of meeting was issued? Since the chair calls the meeting, perhaps he should issue another notice so that the matter can be considered on Thursday. The old notice is invalid.
[English]
The Chair: Madeleine, you raise an important question, but we didn't know when we returned when the committees would be reconstituted and we tried to move the agenda along. We had a request some time ago for people who wanted to come as witnesses before the committee. Weeks ago we indicated to the two witnesses who wanted to appear on Thursday that they could come on Thursday. We were planning without knowing when this actual meeting was to take place, and as you know, as late as last Thursday we were still operating under the old rules and the old committee. To be respectful to the witnesses who need some time to plan their travel and take time away from their own affairs, we need to give them some sort of lead time. So the clerk and I extended an invitation, because they wanted to appear, and this was done weeks ago, not knowing exactly when this meeting was going to take place. So yes, we did send out notices indicating that there would be a meeting on Thursday with the two witnesses. I believe it's the CBA and Canadian Bar who wanted to appear with regard to the debate on the national ID card.
¹ (1550)
[Translation]
Ms. Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral: Of course I'm not saying that they should be told to stay home, except it's always a good idea to operate according to the rules, wherever possible. I was merely making an observation.
[English]
The Chair: And we will issue another.
[Translation]
Ms. Madeleine Dalphond-Guiral: Very well, Mr. Chairman.
[English]
The Chair: Okay, if there are no objections, we'll proceed with the review of, again, the interim report. I believe what you have before you is a draft.
[Proceedings continue in camera]