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Results: 1 - 60 of 161
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Fujarczuk, welcome. Welcome to Parliament. I share my colleagues' views that your resumé, your experience, is impressive. We're lucky that somebody of your experience was interested in assuming what I'm sure you'll find at some points is a nightmare function.
I note that in 1975 you graduated from St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto. A decade later, I got my first choice of colleges and I went to Trinity.
A voice: Oh, oh.
Hon. Dominic LeBlanc: I'm glad to see you're a U of T grad.
I wanted to follow up perhaps on Mr. Cullen's questions. I had a brief experience in the private practice of law in New Brunswick, and I've often wondered about people who work as legal advisers in a context as complicated and as treacherous as Parliament or the House of Commons. You'll have people asking you, and I hope in good faith, for legal advice or a legal opinion with perhaps completely contradictory objectives. They're hoping you'll say that such-and-such is possible, or such-and-such is not, or that something is wise or is unwise.
On the exact same issue, probably more than any other function...and I was trying to imagine a large crown corporation like AECL or an organization like the National Capital Commission, which, as you correctly noted, at various times on various issues becomes politicized, often around different development initiatives, different policies, or decisions they make obviously in this city.
In my experience as a parliamentarian...and it's different, to be fair, in a minority context than in a majority context, where there's a bit more predictability, both in committee deliberations and in votes of the House itself. But one thing that I was struck by, albeit in the minority context of either Mr. Martin's or Mr. Harper's government before 2011, was the ability of parliamentarians or committees to get access to information.
This is not in the context of the legislation, of the statute, but to be able to dig out or tease out particular information from governments or in some cases from other parliamentarians. The Senate process that may be undertaken in the coming weeks will again sort of touch on this idea of the ability of people to get information that people claim as parliamentary privilege or, in the solicitor-client context, as solicitor-client privilege.
In your experience, either at the NCC or at...and you'll forgive me if I don't understand the extent to which access to information applies to the National Capital Commission or to AECL. I see in your resumé that you were involved in the access to information and privacy context, so I assume it fully applies to the NCC.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Sure, and there would be the normal protections of commercial or business information.
From your experience, maybe in private practice, how do you balance out...? I think I'd be curious to see, if we had you come back in a couple of years, whether the impressions you had after two weeks were the same as your impressions after two years. My sense is that one of the functions of parliamentarians is to get access to information, not in the statutory context, although that is one of the instruments, but to be able to represent their constituents or speak in Parliament based on facts and information that often, for contradictory reasons, a particular institution or a particular government may not want to be so transparent in giving.
I'm wondering if you had any experience in your practice with dealing with the decision to advise somebody to disclose something or not, based on statute or on perhaps a litigation context that you saw either coming down the line or before you.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
It does. Thank you very much.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to thank Mr. Dion and Ms. Mourani. We have quite an obvious contradiction before us. There are two quite different viewpoints.
My question is for Mr. Dion.
Earlier you said that we could ask you a question on the future of Cartierville and on integration with the new electoral district. I am therefore asking that question right now in order to give you the opportunity to answer it. However, before concluding this discussion, do you have any reaction to Ms. Mourani's comments? Is there anything you would like to add to what she proposes in the few minutes we have left?
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and my thanks to you, Mr. Speaker, Madame O'Brien, and Mr. Watters.
I agree with my colleague Mr. Cullen. I think the board and you, Mr. Speaker, with your senior officials, have found the right balance to respect the expenditure reductions that Parliament and the government asked of other departments or agencies of government.
I think the House of Commons had to be prepared to do its share. I think you've done it well. You've found the right balance of administrative costs, asking members also to see where we can reduce our expenses. At the same time, you've preserved the essential importance of being able to serve our constituents and fulfill our responsibilities.
When you're dealing with parliamentary budgets, you're dealing with some of the biggest egos in the government. You've found a very good way to do that, Mr. Speaker. You're an austerity Speaker, but you haven't become an austere Speaker.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
I wanted to pick up on Nathan's comments.
I want to compliment you and the senior staff, Mr. Speaker. I think you've done this well and in a collegial way. I know that my colleague who sits on the Board of Internal Economy has found it very constructive.
I don't have any questions, but when I listened to your discussion of the page program, I realized it's a neat idea the board has come up with to try to assist these young women and men with the high cost of tuition. That's a great idea.
Let's also think about the parliamentary guide program, not necessarily in terms of their salaries, as many of them are summer jobs or part-time jobs. I think they're some of the best and brightest bilingual people around. They can show Canadians their Parliament, and make them appreciate the role of the House of Commons and the work we do, together with the Senate.
My question is not about their remuneration. This is anecdotal from my riding, but perhaps it extends to other colleagues as well. I'm finding I have schools that want to come. They all want to come in June, when the weather is nice and they can organize bus trips. A number of schools from New Brunswick want to come to visit Parliament—often grade 8 classes—and they're trying to book visits depending on the bus schedules. Six or seven months before they come, they're told that, unfortunately, there's no space available. It's not possible for them to get a guided tour at that time.
I recognize it's a function of the size of the hallways and the traffic that has to be managed when people come through the building. Is it a function of the physical space of the building and the sequence of the tours, or could the problem be alleviated? I just feel bad for these students who want to come and are told in November or December that it's not possible during a certain window of time. Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering if it's a function of not having enough tour guides.
The practical reality is that you're going to get members of Parliament showing groups through themselves. You're going to find members of Parliament, me included, who are going to be trying to shepherd around 40 kids. We are not trained to do this and lack the information the guides would have. Your security personnel won't like the chaos this will cause.
Recognizing the physical limitations of the buildings, is there a way we can increase the staff available or extend the hours of the tours? I just find it unfortunate: they come to Ottawa and they see Sparks Street, but they can't get into the building for a proper guided tour. They are stuck with somebody like me trying to drag them into the library and through the lobby, which isn't the ideal way for them to appreciate Parliament.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Mr. Speaker, I would be grateful if in some conversation with the librarian—
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
—or perhaps Madame O'Brien.... I just hope that we've made every effort to accommodate the maximum number of people and haven't fallen into some bureaucratic thing where at 6 o'clock we close down some door.
I just want to try to maximize the chance people have to see Parliament.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
That to me is a worthy expenditure, if you're paying some student a few more hours a day or hiring a few more students.
Anyway, if somebody has a chance with the librarian or the appropriate authorities, I would be interested to know that we're doing everything we can to maximize that. That's all.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
The only reason I say that, Mr. Chairman, is that the Sergeant-at-Arms is from Miramichi, New Brunswick, and people in Miramichi, New Brunswick, are up way after midnight, so yes, I would be quite sure that the Sergeant-at-Arms would probably be awake at midnight and happy himself to conduct some tours. I see him nodding in the back of the room.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
And if we're lucky, maybe we could have an all-night voting again this spring.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
[Inaudible—Editor]
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
I understand. I think the presentation makes sense. We'll talk about that later when we're looking at our report, but I've read the presentation and I think there's a lot of merit to it.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I only have one question to ask Mr. Godin.
Mr. Chair, I support the presentation that Mr. Godin has just made. I know that, in a previous session, Mr. Godin and our colleagues raised questions about this subject. In New Brunswick, we are used to gaps of 20, 21 and 22%. I know that Mr. Reid and others talked about it. In some provinces, the commissions really tried to keep it within a 10% limit. That's not official, but that's still an objective of some commissions.
Do you agree, as I do, with Robert Goguen? He will of course be joining us after finishing his presentation to the House. Mr. Goguen's proposed changes would lead to an increase in Moncton's population, which is very urban compared to your riding or to mine. The fact that the numbers are getting close to 25%, is that a problem for you? It's still under the legal threshold, but that could increase somewhat if, ultimately, Robert Goguen's proposed changes are accepted by the commission.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to thank my colleague Robert for his presentation. As a courtesy, he discussed it with me before he filed the submission with our committee.
Mr. Chairman, I would suggest, and I hope Robert agrees, that two criteria in the law are effective representation and community of interest. Obviously the population variance is the third. Certainly, if you read the New Brunswick commission report, they very much privileged the arguments of community of interest and effective representation.
That's why, for example, they left our colleague from Miramichi at almost negative 25%, because they thought, in their judgment, that those two factors, in the words of the New Brunswick commission's final report, were more important than a strictly numerical calculation in a province that's largely rural with a number of growing cities, as is the case for Mr. Goguen.
If community of interest is an important criterion, what Mr. Goguen is suggesting makes eminent sense. This is the first time a portion of the city of Moncton has been added to the rural riding I represent. The only possible explanation must be that they wanted to achieve a reasonable parity between our two ridings. The community of interest is so strong. The workplace migrations are so strong; the school boards, the hospital boards, and the social and cultural activities are very much with Mr. Goguen's community of Moncton. I think they can be certainly as effectively represented by Mr. Goguen as they would be if I were their member of Parliament.
I didn't submit a request to appear, so I've just appeared from the committee table. I didn't recuse myself, as Tom did on another matter.
Mr. Chairman, I wanted to put this on the record because I think Robert makes a very commonsensical, eminent argument. The people in those communities told me, when they realized this was the proposal in the second report.... It was not in the first report, as was noted in response to Alexandrine's question. They will be very surprised on election day to realize they're voting with rural communities an hour away by car when the other side of the Trans-Canada Highway is the riding they had always been involved in.
I'm wondering if Mr. Goguen would agree with that very logical argument I've just made.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Goguen.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
I wasn't sworn in like Robert was.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
It's a 20- to 25-kilometre run from where these people are, whereas Robert's office would be 15 minutes, three to four kilometres.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Sure. It's a good question.
I would just note, colleagues, that Robert's riding currently is well above the 25%.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
At 98,000 he's well above, and has been probably since the year after the last commission report. Even with the request to add these 6,000 or so people, it still brings him down from what he is at today and brings him to within the 25% variance.
But to answer your question, Scott, my riding currently is 78,000, the quotient being 75,000. Under the proposal, if Mr. Goguen's suggestions are not accepted, I'm up to 84,000, so I'm plus 9,000 under their proposal now. If Mr. Goguen's suggestions are accepted by the commission, ultimately I would go back to 78,000, still a bit above the quotient.
I would point out—and I think Mr. Goguen and Monsieur Godin would agree—that one of the big growth areas in southeastern New Brunswick is the city of Dieppe, not necessarily this area, although there would be some growth in this area. But as the migrations from northern New Brunswick move into the south, Dieppe would be one of the areas that would grow a lot, half of which would be in my riding as well. So over time I think I would start to creep back up. This change would probably not have a dramatic effect over the next 10 years. It's not the hot spot of growth.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, gentlemen, for what is clearly very interesting evidence you're giving this committee.
Professor Byers, I'll take the bait—no pun intended. My father was the Minister of Fisheries when the 200-mile fishing limit was proclaimed in the 1970s. I'm curious to hear what you would answer if somebody were to ask you about Canada's fisheries management jurisdiction in the Arctic.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
I think that may be an opportunity for Canada's chairmanship to focus on the NAFO equivalent in terms of Arctic fisheries. It's an interesting approach. Thank you.
In 2011, Professor Byers, you published an article in Policy Options that, fast-forwarding to the re-election of the Obama administration, may even be more or as relevant today as it was a year ago, in terms of saying there is a pretty broad willingness to treat issues like search and rescue, like environmental stewardship among Arctic nations, as a cooperative foreign policy effort. And I think Professor McRae said the same thing.
There has not been a great deal of confrontation or certainly dramatic discord. If the Obama administration has previously shown a willingness to negotiate or discuss with Russia and Canada issues like search and rescue, access, policing—a whole series of these potential areas of overlap—can Canada use its Arctic Council chairmanship to perhaps drive a multilateral agenda further, to use the goodwill from the American administration and not lose any momentum? Or do we run into what Professor McRae I think correctly noted, that you don't look for too many international fora to resolve it, as you may not like the conclusion? You're perhaps better to simply occupy the space properly, functionally.
You said the same thing yourself with respect to Asian shipping companies.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to the witnesses.
I agree with my colleague, Paul Dewar, that it was a very succinct and rather compelling beginning to our work. Thank you for the time you've put into the presentations.
Mr. Kessel, one phrase you used struck me. I think you said that no legal vacuum exists in the Arctic—or legal void, or words to that effect. You referred to the Law of the Sea. I had a chance to spend some time with the former ambassador, Mr. Legault, who was one of Canada's great architects of that work for a number of decades. I'm somewhat familiar with the Law of the Sea—and legally I have no reason to think you're not very accurate—but there is a perception, and I think you might agree with me, in the minds of Canadians that there's some confusion as to Canada's sovereignty in the Northwest Passage, or there's some dispute.
A number of countries are calling for the Arctic to be managed outside the Law of the Sea process. You referred to the Antarctic context. We see media reports of Russian bombers and we justify fighter aircraft purchases based on sovereignty in the north. I'm wondering if the legal framework is as solid as you claim. What more can we do as a country to convince our own population and our partners in the Arctic region that this is the case? I think if you ask people on the street whether it is true that there's no legal void or vacuum with respect to Canada's sovereignty and to compare it to a land mass—you talked about a land territory. It surprises me. If somebody flew a Second World War Russian bomber over northern New Brunswick, people would react differently, and yet we had reports of this happening a few years ago.
I'm just wondering why we seem to have missed the mark as a country. It's not a judgment of this government; successive governments have failed to implant in the public imagination a legal principle that you think is so solid.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
To the Law of the Sea, you mean?
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
I'm sorry to interrupt you, Mr. Kessel, but you would agree, then, that we as a country have more trouble—and again, perhaps this is a perception—impressing on the public's mind our ability to exercise sovereignty over that territory than we would in downtown Toronto. If the same legal regime applies, there is a massive perception that somehow we're not really in control of the Northwest Passage. Nobody is going to drive a submarine down Yonge Street, granted, but there is a perception that this control—sovereignty—is not exercised. The legal framework is there. This is not the first time that we haven't applied a law in Canada, but I think there's a public perception that it's weaker than perhaps we want it to be.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Do they have Tim Hortons there?
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you for being here, Mr. Gemayel. It is very good of you to give us your time this way. It is very interesting to hear the perspective of someone in your situation.
Like my colleague Mr. Dewar, I was at the summit of La Francophonie in Beirut with former Prime Minister Chrétien, nearly 10 years ago. That was an eye-opening experience for me, and I hope to return to Lebanon. As you know, the Lebanese-Canadian community is very important in our society. It is a privilege to have you with us.
I would like to go back a little to my colleagues' questions. Mr. Dewar asked you earlier to give a brief description of the influence of the conflict in Syria on your country. You referred to that in your comments at the beginning. I would be happy if you would say a little more about the consequences of the violence in this difficult conflict in Syria on Lebanese society and politics. Is the conflict causing concern in the Christian community? Is it causing divides in that community? There are times when it is not easy. How do you think this conflict, specifically, might inflame the situation in your country?
I would also like to go back to Mr. Dechert's last question, which I thought was interesting. Do you have any advice for Canadians? What, exactly, can we do to put an end to the situation in Syria? Do you think there are measures that Canada or the international community could take? Canada could encourage other countries to bring more pressure to bear, or to propose more ways of putting an end to the situation, which everyone thinks is appalling.
So those are my two questions. If you would be so kind as to offer some clarification for us, it would be appreciated.
Thank you again for your testimony.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, gentlemen, for being here.
I want to follow up on a line of questioning that Mr. Dewar and Madam Laverdière began.
I was interested to know that in the preparatory meetings of July 2011 there was a decision to include members of civil society as part of the Canadian delegation. I'm interested in how that process was undertaken, what criteria you used to decide who would be part of that delegation, and if other groups had applied or were interested. I'm just curious as to how you arrived at the composition of the delegation.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
But from your long experience—and I understand that you don't want to speak for the minister—is there typically any kind of criteria, or do you simply get an e-mail that says “this will be the delegation”, and you have no understanding of how that was arrived at?
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
You're just then informed of the decision. There's no process that goes on in the department to identify groups. At one point there's a ministerial decision as to the composition of the group. Is that...?
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Typically, the members of the delegation would meet with senior officials of the department in planning these meetings, I assume.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Once the delegation is determined by the minister, there would be internal meetings. Members of this established group would meet, I assume, with you and your colleagues.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
I understand, but you would meet before you all arrive at the meetings. Presumably you'd meet in Ottawa and you'd meet in various locations.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Right, and I assume that typically in preparation for one of these sessions there would be briefings for the minister as well on the approach to be taken at these discussions.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
From your experience.... I'm obviously interested in the participation of civil society and how these people were selected. I understand that you may not want to discuss that, but I'm trying to get an understanding of what the role of these people would be in the lead-up to the beginning of the negotiations. You're surely not saying that they would just arrive on the day of the meeting and have your morning meeting. They're involved in setting up the preparatory work...?
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
A TV show tried that once, didn't they?
I don't want to interrupt you, but we're running out of time.
Would you be surprised if people who were part of the delegation in which you'll be involved as we head into July of this year were posting, on a website called “canadiangunnutz.com”, references to discussions taking place in the department, offering opinions as to how the government may deal with certain issues, and saying that understanding diplomatese is worse than Klingon?
You don't look like an alien, but you would be surprised, wouldn't you, that people participating as part of your group are on these websites posting stuff like that?
That wouldn't be typical, would it?
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
You've never posted on the website called “canadiangunnutz” referring to yourself as a Klingon.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
So you would be surprised, then, if people purporting to be part of that delegation were offering, on the website, a rather detailed analysis of what the Canadian government would be putting forward at these discussions?
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
And if the person were either involved with the delegation or a senior official of one of the groups involved with the delegation, you'd want to look into how that happened.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
You would never verify, though, that this kind of stuff is posted on websites. If somebody were to send you websites....
You're not a police officer or a lawyer, and I understand that, but I'm sort of worried that perhaps there is a tendency to speak freely about what is an important discussion and the role of Canada in those discussions. My concern is that it can be compromised by people who can't resist going on the Internet late at night and posting stuff.
That would be unusual for you, certainly.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Thank you for your answer.
We only have one minute left. Perhaps you could give us a sense of where the resistance would be coming from, what countries. If you're correct to say there's no guarantee of a success next month, where do you see the biggest resistance currently from your impression of where different state parties may be in approaching the discussions next month?
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
Mesdames et messieurs, thank you for being here, and thank you for giving us the benefit of some interesting perspectives on what is certainly an important issue.
Mr. Torino or Mr. Bernardo, in your work representing your association, have you met with the foreign affairs minister?
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Have you met with the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs?
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Have you met with a previous foreign affairs minister or any other federal minister?
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Well, maybe the top three.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
But you haven't met with a foreign affairs minister or a secretary of state for foreign affairs, or perhaps a parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, with respect to this treaty.
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Would it have been since the election of the Harper government in 2006?
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
When you go back, would you be able to check your records and get back to the clerk with the name of the minister you met with?
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