Pursuant to Order made by the House on Wednesday, March 3, 2010, the routine motions in effect at the time of prorogation of the previous session are deemed to have been adopted by the Committee in the current session:
That the Committee retain the services of one or more analysts from the Library of Parliament, as needed, to assist the Committee in its work. These services may be requested at the discretion of the Chair.
That a Subcommittee on Agenda and Procedure be created, including the Chair of the Committee and one member from each party, to meet at the call of the Chair.
That the Chair be authorized to hold meetings to receive evidence and to have that evidence printed when a quorum is not present, provided that at least three (3) members are present, including one member of the opposition.
In the case of previously scheduled meetings taking place outside the Parliamentary precinct, the Committee members in attendance shall only be required to wait for 15 minutes following the designated start of the meeting before they may proceed to hear witnesses and receive evidence, regardless of whether opposition or government members are present.
That only the Clerk of the Committee, with adequate notice, be authorized to distribute to the members of the Committee any documents, including motions, and that all documents which are to be distributed amongst the committee members must be in both official languages. The Clerk shall advise all witness appearing before committee of this requirement.
Each Committee member in attendance shall be permitted to have one staff member attend at any in camera meetings. In addition, each party shall be permitted to have one party staff member attend in camera meetings.
That in camera meetings be transcribed and that the transcription be kept with the Clerk of the Committee for later consultation by members of the Committee.
That the Committee hereby authorize the Clerk of the Committee, in consultation with the Chair, to make the necessary arrangements to provide for working meals.
That, if requested, reasonable travel, accommodation and living expenses be reimbursed to witnesses, not exceeding two (2) representatives per organization; and that, in exceptional circumstances, payment for more representatives be made at the discretion of the Chair.
That the consideration and examination of any Bill (Government or Private Member’s Bill) which falls within the express mandate of the committee shall take precedence over any study or non-legislative examination other than questions of privilege. In such circumstances the non-legislative study shall be deferred until such time as the Bill is reported back to the House.
That forty-eight (48) hours notice shall be required for any substantive motion to be considered by the Committee; and that the motion shall be filed and distributed to members by the Clerk in both official languages.
That the witnesses from any one organization shall be allowed ten (10) minutes to make their opening statement. During the questioning of witnesses, there shall be allocated seven (7) minutes for the 1st round of questioning and thereafter five (5) minutes shall be allocated to each questioner in the 2nd and subsequent rounds of questioning.
The Order of questions for the 1st round of questioning shall be as follows: Liberal, Bloc, NDP, Conservative (CPC). Questioning during the 2nd round shall alternate between the Opposition members and Government members, in the following fashion: Liberal, Conservative, Bloc, Conservative, Liberal, Conservative, Conservative; based on the principle that each committee member should have a full opportunity to question the witness(es). If time permits, further rounds shall repeat the pattern of the first two at the discretion of the chair.