NDDN Committee Meeting

The Standing Committee on National Defence met at 3:31 p.m. this day, in Room 362, East Block, the Chair, the Hon. Peter Kent, presiding.

Bill Jones made a statement and answered questions.

Keith Coulter made a statement and answered questions.

It was agreed, — That the Chair report to the House that the Committee has examined the qualifications and competence of Bill Jones to the position of Associate Deputy Minister of National Defence and Keith Coulter to the position of Special Adviser to the Minister of National Defence and finds them competent to perform the duties of their respective position.

At 4:29 p.m., the sitting was suspended.

At 4:32 p.m., the sitting resumed in camera.

It was agreed, — That, notwithstanding the routine motion governing staff attending in camera proceedings, adopted by the Committee on Tuesday, November 7, 2013, the intern from the office of Élaine Michaud, be permitted to attend the in camera portion of the meeting.

It was agreed, — That, notwithstanding the routine motion relative to the questioning of witnesses, adopted by the Committee on Tuesday, November 5, 2013, the order for the questioning of witnesses in the second round be amended by the following: “that the questioning during the second round shall alternate between the Government members and Opposition members in the following fashion: Conservative, NDP, Conservative, Jean-François Larose, Conservative, Conservative, based on the principle that each Committee member should have a full opportunity to question the witness(es), before other Committee members ask a second question;”.

The motion, as amended, read as follows:

“That the witnesses from any one organization shall be allowed ten (10) minutes to make their opening statement; that, during the questioning of witnesses, there shall be allocated seven (7) minutes for the first round of questioning and thereafter five (5) minutes shall be allocated to each questioner in the second round and subsequent rounds of questioning; that the order of questions for the first round of questioning shall be as follows: Conservative, NDP, Conservative, Liberal; that the questioning during the second round shall alternate between the Government members and Opposition members in the following fashion: Conservative, NDP, Conservative, Jean-François Larose, Conservative, Conservative, based on the principle that each Committee member should have a full opportunity to question the witness(es), before other Committee members ask a second question; that, if time permits, questioning during the third round shall alternate between the Government members and Opposition members in the following fashion: NDP, Conservative, Liberal; and that, if time permits, further rounds shall repeat the pattern of the first two at the discretion of the chair.”

At 5:01 p.m., the Committee adjourned to the call of the Chair.