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MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS

Meeting No. 52

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development met at 8:48 a.m. this day, in Room 306, La Promenade Building, the Chair, Dean Allison, presiding.

Members of the Committee present: Dean Allison, Lois Brown, Bob Dechert, Paul Dewar, Nina Grewal, Hélène Laverdière, Hon. Dominic LeBlanc, Gary Ralph Schellenberger, Dave Van Kesteren and John Williamson.

Acting Members present: Alexandrine Latendresse for Ève Péclet, Isabelle Morin for Romeo Saganash and Francis Scarpaleggia for Hon. Dominic LeBlanc.

In attendance: Library of Parliament: James Lee, Analyst ; Penny Becklumb, Analyst . House of Commons: Christine Lafrance, Legislative Clerk.

Witnesses: Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade: Martial Pagé, Director General, North America Policy Bureau; Stephen Gluck, Senior Policy Analyst, U.S. Transboundary Affairs Division. Department of the Environment: John Moffet, Director General, Legislative and Regulatory Affairs; Manon N. Lalonde, Senior Project and Program Engineer , Regulatory Development & Analysis Section, Mining and Processing Division, Industrial Sectors Directorate.

Pursuant to the Order of Reference of Wednesday, October 3, 2012, the Committee resumed consideration of Bill C-383, An Act to amend the International Boundary Waters Treaty Act and the International River Improvements Act.

Martial Pagé, Stephen Gluck and John Moffet made statements and answered questions.

The Committee commenced its clause-by-clause study of the Bill.

Pursuant to Standing Order 75(1), consideration of Clause 1 was postponed.

The Chair called Clause 2.

Clause 2 carried.

On Clause 3,

Paul Dewar moved, — That Bill C-383, in Clause 3, be amended by replacing line 14 on page 2 with the following:

“9 000 L of water are taken outside the water”

The question was put on the amendment of Paul Dewar and it was negatived, by a show of hands: YEAS: 4; NAYS: 7.

Paul Dewar moved, — That Bill C-383, in Clause 3, be amended by replacing line 16 on page 2 with the following:

“Bulk removal includes the taking of water in containers of more than 40 L volume outside a water basin but does not include the taking of a”

The question was put on the amendment of Paul Dewar and it was negatived, by a show of hands: YEAS: 4; NAYS: 7.

Clause 3 carried.

On Clause 4,

Bob Dechert moved, — That Bill C-383, in Clause 4, be amended by replacing line 33 on page 2 with the following:

13. (0.1) The purpose of this section is to prevent the risk of environmental harm resulting from bulk removal.

(1) Despite section 11, the bulk removal

After debate, the question was put on the amendment of Bob Dechert and it was agreed to.

Clause 4, as amended, carried.

By unanimous consent, Clauses 5 to 9 inclusive carried severally.

On Clause 10,

Paul Dewar moved, — That Bill C-383, in Clause 10, be amended by replacing lines 39 to 41 on page 18 with the following:

“42. (1) The Minister shall, 5 years after the day on which this section comes into force and every 5 years after that, undertake a review of”

After debate, the question was put on the amendment of Paul Dewar and it was negatived, by a show of hands: YEAS: 5; NAYS: 6.

Clause 10 carried.

Clause 11 carried.

Clause 12 carried.

On Clause 13,

Bob Dechert moved, — That Bill C-383, in Clause 13, be amended by adding after line 17 on page 19 the following:

(2) Section 2 of the Act is amended by adding the following in alphabetical order:

“boundary waters” has the same meaning as in the Preliminary Article of the treaty relating to the boundary waters and to questions arising along the boundary between Canada and the United States signed at Washington on January 11, 1909 and set out in Schedule 1 to the International Boundary Waters Treaty Act.

“transboundary waters” has the same meaning as in section 10 of the International Boundary Waters Treaty Act.

After debate, the question was put on the amendment of Bob Dechert and it was agreed to.

Clause 13, as amended, carried.

On Clause 14,

Bob Dechert moved, — That Bill C-383, in Clause 14, be amended by replacing lines 20 to 26 on page 19 with the following:

4.1 (1) The purpose of this section is to prevent the risk of environmental harm resulting from the permanent loss of water from Canadian ecosystems.

(2) No licence may be issued for the construction, operation or maintenance of an international river improvement that links waters that are neither boundary waters nor transboundary waters to an international river if the purpose or effect of the improvement is to increase the annual flow of the international river at the international boundary.

After debate, the question was put on the amendment of Bob Dechert and it was agreed to.

Clause 14, as amended, carried.

Bob Dechert moved, — That Bill C-383 be amended by adding after line 26 on page 19 the following new clause:

14.1 Paragraph 7(1)(b) of the Act is replaced by the following:

(b) situated within boundary waters; or

The Chair ruled the proposed amendment inadmissible because it was beyond the scope of the Bill, as provided on page 766 of House of Commons Procedure and Practice, Second Edition.

Clause 15 carried.

The Short Title carried.

Schedule 1 carried.

The Title carried.

The Bill, as amended, carried.

ORDERED, — That the Chair report the Bill, as amended, to the House.

ORDERED, — That Bill C-383, as amended, be reprinted for the use of the House at report stage.

At 10:03 a.m., the sitting was suspended.

At 10:11 a.m., the sitting resumed in camera.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the Committee on Tuesday, November 1, 2011, the Committee resumed its study on the role of the private sector in achieving Canada's international development interests.

It was agreed, — That the draft report , as amended, be adopted.

It was agreed, — That the report be entitled: "Driving Inclusive Economic Growth: The Role of the Private Sector in International Development".

It was agreed, — That the Chair, Clerk and analysts be authorized to make such grammatical and editorial changes as may be necessary without changing the substance of the report.

It was agreed, — That, pursuant to Standing Order 109, the Committee request that the Government table a comprehensive response to the report.

ORDERED, — That the Chair present the report to the House.

It was agreed, — That the Committee append to its report dissenting or supplementary opinions, immediately after the signature of the Chair, provided that they are no more than five pages in length and be submitted electronically, in both official languages, to the Clerk of the Committee, no later than Thursday, November 1^st, 2012.

At 10:45 a.m., the Committee adjourned to the call of the Chair.

Miriam Burke
Clerk of the Committee

2012/11/13 10:21 a.m.