FAIT Committee Meeting

STANDING COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE

COMITÉ PERMANENT DES AFFAIRES ÉTRANGÈRES ET DU COMMERCE INTERNATIONAL

EVIDENCE

[Recorded by Electronic Apparatus]

Thursday, October 5, 2000

• 0906

[Translation]

The Clerk of the Committee: Honourable Members, I see we have a quorum.

[English]

Pursuant to Standing Orders 106(1) and (2), your first item of business is to elect a chair. I'm ready to receive motions to that effect. Mr. O'Brien.

Mr. Pat O'Brien (London—Fanshawe, Lib.): I nominate Mr. Bill Graham to be chair of the committee.

An hon. member: We want a change.

Mr. Pat O'Brien: You want a change.

Some hon. members: Oh, oh!

Mr. Fred Mifflin (Bonavista—Trinity—Conception, Lib.): I second that motion.

The Clerk: It is moved by Mr. Pat O'Brien and seconded by Mr. Mifflin that Mr. Bill Graham do take the chair.

(Motion agreed to)

The Clerk: Mr. Graham.

The Chair (Mr. Bill Graham (Toronto Centre—Rosedale, Lib.)): Thank you very much, colleagues. I look forward to a very long period of working together with you in this session. I expect to get a lot of work done with you before Christmas.

Next is the election of vice-chairs. Mr. Solberg.

Mr. Monte Solberg (Medicine Hat, Canadian Alliance): I would like to nominate my colleague, Deepak Obhrai.

An hon. member: No change.

The Chair: Are there any other nominations?

(Motion agreed to)

The Chair: I declare Mr. Obhrai elected as the first vice-chair. This committee likes continuity, Mr. Obhrai. A round of applause for you.

Mr. Deepak Obhrai (Calgary East, Canadian Alliance): There you go, no change. There was no way I was going to let you off the hook.

The Chair: But I don't see Mrs. Augustine here to comment on your election.

An hon. member: We don't want that much continuity.

The Chair: We now have an election for a second vice-chair.

Mr. Pat O'Brien: I would like to nominate Madam Colleen Beaumier.

The Chair: Madam Beaumier is nominated. Are there any other nominations?

(Motion agreed to)

The Chair: I recognize Madam Beaumier as the second vice-chair by acclamation. Congratulations.

There are new members to the committee. I'd like to welcome Mr. O'Brien, who has been a member of both the public accounts and heritage committees prior to being chair of the national defence committee. He returns here as the parliamentary secretary to the Minister for International Trade.

Mr. Deepak Obhrai: He keeps the whip.

The Chair: He keeps the trade whip, Mr. Obhrai. I think that's the committee you're on, so if you want to be disciplined, step up.

Mr. Deepak Obhrai: Oh, no, that's fine.

The Chair: Mr. Paradis remains the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

We're very pleased to recognize and welcome Mr. Solberg as the foreign affairs critic for his party. Mr. Solberg, welcome to the committee.

Mr. Monte Solberg: Thank you.

The Chair: Mr. Solberg managed to make life miserable for everybody on the finance committee, so now we're going to try to make life joyous here for everybody in the next few months.

[Translation]

Is Richard Marceau here? No. He's the Bloc trade critic.

• 0910

[English]

Colleagues, I'd like to introduce John Wright, who is replacing Gerald Schmitz while Gerald is away. And of course we have Jim with us as well.

The Sub-Committee on International Trade, Trade Disputes and Investment needs a new chair, as the previous chair has been named the parliamentary secretary. Are there any nominations?

Honourable Diane Marleau.

Hon. Diane Marleau (Sudbury, Lib.): I nominate Ian Murray.

The Chair: Mr. Murray's not here.

Ms. Diane Marleau: Can he be nominated if he's not here?

The Chair: Yes, he can be nominated if he's not here—for the subcommittee. Do I hear any other nominations?

I declare Mr. Murray elected by acclamation as chair of the subcommittee.

Colleagues, we'll be having a meeting of the steering committee after next Tuesday, or not next Tuesday but a week Tuesday. The members of the steering committee, just to remind you, are the chairs; the vice-chairs; the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs; representatives from each of the Bloc Québécois, the New Democratic Party, and the Progressive Conservative Party; and two additional representatives from the Liberal Party. We will hold that meeting the Tuesday we come back after the break.

I would like to propose to you that on that Tuesday, prior to the meeting of the steering committee, we hold a meeting to deal with the issue of International Food Day. It's been proposed we have a joint meeting with the agriculture committee. Traditionally, this committee has had a meeting to discuss International Food Day, or issues around it. We usually have a panel that discusses food production and the problems of feeding the world's hungry. I would suggest that since we have no other business until the steering committee has been able to meet, that might be a good way to employ our time.

I'll ask the clerk if we could get the television room. I think we've usually had the television room for that meeting. We could do a joint meeting with the agriculture committee, and then we could have a steering committee meeting. It's pretty obvious that by that time we will have a better indication as to how much of a work program we're going to have this fall.

[Translation]

Ms. Lalonde is looking at me rather skeptically.

Ms. Francine Lalonde (Mercier, BQ): I am extremely skeptical.

The Chair: Indeed you are.

[English]

Well, by that time we should have a good idea.

Colleagues, the one unfinished piece of business, if you'll recall, is the committee's report on our trip to the Caucasus and Central Asia. I would propose to you that we try to finish that report the week we're back after the break, but I honestly think we should have a meeting of the steering committee to discuss that and have a better handle as to whether we have sufficient time or not to achieve it. In an ideal circumstance we should do that, but we'd have to do it and get it prepared, and there'd be no point doing it unless it could be translated, adopted, and presented in the House.

We'll have to really talk about that in that meeting—whether or not that's a feasible agenda. We'll have a better idea that week.

So what I would suggest then, colleagues, is that we adjourn to the call of the chair, or at least until Tuesday morning—

Mr. Deepak Obhrai: Why don't you call the Prime Minister's office and find out, so that we know?

Ms. Diane Marleau: We've been trying for the last....

The Chair: I take it there is a motion on the floor that the first vice-chair is going to call the Prime Minister's office to see if there's going to be an election this fall.

Excuse me, colleagues, before we break....

Mr. Pat O'Brien: Mr. Chairman, I have just one other brief item. There was a trip planned for the trade subcommittee for October. I'm told by some of the people here that there are arrangements pending over there and they need a decision on whether that trip is going to go ahead. If they need that decision today, I think it would be pretty obvious we'd have to tell them the trip is off. It's later in October. I don't know the exact dates. I don't know if the clerk has them.

• 0915

Mr. Deepak Obhrai: I was on the subcommittee and it was supposed to go in the latter part of October or in November, but I think with you-know-what on the horizon, it's not possible to do that any more.

The Chair: My recollection is that the House has already approved the expenditures for the trip, so if they could leave and do it soon enough, it could be done. But what would be the point, in the sense of what kind of report you could get in? It would be just a trip for the sake of a trip.

Mr. Deepak Obhrai: It would be a pretty extensive trip, so I think it would be appropriate to—

The Chair: To put it off.

Mr. Deepak Obhrai: —defer it till further down the road.

The Chair: Well, if we defer it and nothing else intervenes and we're still sitting in November, I don't see why we couldn't reactivate it. I think we should, but at the moment it would be wiser to defer it.

Mr. Pat O'Brien: Right. I think some of the people in Europe need to have an answer today, so I guess deferral is probably the best answer.

The Chair: Defer it, and if other things intervene it will go off until another session decides what to do. If other things don't intervene, we'll reactivate it.

Mr. Deepak Obhrai: The problem with that is that, from what I understand, all the arrangements have been made, and if you defer it, it will have to go to the next year in order to bring everything back into line, where we are meeting with trade officials and people in the other country.

Ms. Colleen Beaumier (Brampton West—Mississauga, Lib.): You can't defer it to the next session of Parliament.

Mr. Deepak Obhrai: We'll revise it.

The Chair: No. As I said, if we continue to sit, if there is no election—let's call it for what it is—this fall, we'll have to somehow see what we can do to reactivate it. It's been authorized; we can do that.

You're saying it couldn't be reactivated until the spring, because once things have been put off they can't say “Well, move it from late October to late November”, or something like that.

So if we defer it, we've in fact agreed that it's not going to happen this fall regardless. Okay. But I think we have to make that decision.

Are there any other matters we have to deal with?

[Translation]

Ms. Maud Debien (Laval East, BQ): Mr. Chairman, I have a question about the report on the Caucasus region. If we can't get around to adopting this report before elections are called, can we bring it back in the next Parliament? I know we can defer consideration of a report until a later session, but can we do that in the case of a new parliament?

The Chair: Yes. The committee can always adopt the work of a previous parliament. However, the makeup of the committee could pose a problem. It's a matter of whether the members who went on the trips and who are well versed in the subject will actually be serving on the committee. That could present some problems. However, from a procedural standpoint, we could certainly bring back the report for consideration.

Ms. Maud Debien: Thank you.

[English]

Mr. Svend J. Robinson (Burnaby—Douglas, NDP): Mr. Chairman, I wonder if we could get an update on the status of the response from the Minister of Foreign Affairs to our committee report on Iraq.

The committee will recall that we did not ask for a formal response because of the undertaking by the parliamentary secretary that the minister would be responding in full to the report, and I don't believe we've had that response yet. Perhaps the parliamentary secretary could undertake to look into that and then report to the steering committee.

Mr. Denis Paradis (Brome—Missisquoi, Lib.): I will.

The Chair: From personal knowledge, I know the departmental people are working on the response. Again, it all depends on whether they'll have time to prepare it before there are any other events that intervene, but I know it's being worked on.

Ms. Colleen Beaumier: I agree with Mr. Robinson on this. I think we have to demand that they give us a response a little bit more expediently than how they've proceeded in the past.

The Chair: Under the rules of the House, they have 100 days from the day we send the letter. That's what the rules are. Let's press the parliamentary secretary to see if we could get it in, and we could—

[Translation]

Mr. Denis Paradis: I'll have to report then to the Sub-committee on Agenda and Procedure.

The Chair: Fine then. Thank you.

Are there any further comments or questions?

[English]

The Chair: So really then, what the members of the committee are suggesting is that you go back to the department and see whether you could have it for the week after the break, because that would be the only possible moment—

[Translation]

Mr. Denis Paradis: I'll have to report then to the Sub-committee on Agenda and Procedure.

[English]

So we're adjourned until Tuesday morning, October 17. Thank you very much.