STANDING COMMITTEE ON ESTIMATES
COMITÉ PERMANENT DES BUDGETS DES DÉPENSES
Tuesday 9 December 2003 Mardi 9 décembre 2003
The committee met at 1530 in room 228.
ELECTION OF CHAIR
Clerk of the Committee (Mr Trevor Day): Honourable members, it is my duty to call upon you to elect a Chair. Are there any nominations?
Mrs Elizabeth Witmer (Kitchener-Waterloo): I nominate Cam Jackson.
Clerk of the Committee: Any further nominations? There being no further nominations, I declare nominations closed and Mr Jackson Chair of the committee.
ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIR
The Chair (Mr Cameron Jackson): Thank you, Trevor. Thank you, committee. Our next order of business would be the election of a Vice-Chair. The Chair is open to nominations.
Mr Ted Chudleigh (Halton): I nominate Elizabeth Witmer.
The Chair: Any further nominations? Seeing none other, I declare Elizabeth Witmer Vice-Chair of the standing committee on estimates.
APPOINTMENT OF SUBCOMMITTEE
The Chair: The next order of business, according to our limited agenda at the moment, is a motion to deal with subcommittee members.
Mr Jeff Leal (Peterborough): I move that a subcommittee on committee business be appointed to meet from time to time, at the call of the Chair or on the request of any member thereof, to consider and report to the committee on the business of the committee; and that the subcommittee be composed of the following members -- the Chair as Chair, Ms Di Cocco, and Mrs Witmer; and that the presence of all members of the subcommittee is necessary to constitute a meeting.
The Chair: All those in favour, please indicate. Opposed, if any? That's carried.
There are only two quick items I'd like to raise, and if any other members wish to, briefly.
First of all, I'd like to introduce our committee clerk, Trevor Day. He will be working with us and will be spending a lot of time with us. He's also the person you need to phone if you've got any questions whatsoever. You can call me, of course, but you can also call Trevor. To my left is Heidi Clark, who is our researcher. She serves here at the pleasure of the committee, and from time to time, if you have specific requests during the course of the review of specific estimates, it's incumbent upon Heidi to gather that material to assist you in your work. They are two very important people, and I wanted to welcome them to the committee as well and to thank them on behalf of the committee.
The only other item I'd like to raise is that I noticed this morning, in the first committee I sat on, in a similar table arrangement, that these signs are difficult for me to read when I'm sitting across from you. They must be terribly difficult for the average deputant who may come before us. I'm wondering if we might let our clerk take under advisement that perhaps this signage could be contrasted a little more so that -- we're going to know each other by personal name, and that's fine, but for deputants, it will be very difficult. If we can just take that -- unless there's anybody objecting to that? Good.
The majority of our business will be ordered up in the spring after the budget has been tabled, so if there's no further business for the committee to raise at this time, I will entertain a motion to adjourn.
Mr Chudleigh: So moved.
The Chair: All in favour? Carried. Thank you. Have a merry Christmas.
The committee adjourned at 1534.
CONTENTS
Tuesday 9 December 2003
Election of Chair E-1
Election of Vice-Chair E-1
Appointment of subcommittee E-1
STANDING COMMITTEE ON ESTIMATES
Chair / Président
Mr Cameron Jackson (Burlington PC)
Vice-Chair / Vice-Président
Mrs Elizabeth Witmer (Kitchener-Waterloo PC)
Mr Wayne Arthurs (Pickering-Ajax-Uxbridge L)
Mr Ted Chudleigh (Halton PC)
Mr Kim Craitor (Niagara Falls L)
Ms Caroline Di Cocco (Sarnia-Lambton L)
Mr Cameron Jackson (Burlington PC)
Mr Kuldip Kular (Bramalea-Gore-Malton-Springdale L)
Ms Shelley Martel (Nickel Belt ND)
Mr Phil McNeely (Ottawa-Orléans L)
Mr John Milloy (Kitchener Centre / -Centre L)
Mrs Elizabeth Witmer (Kitchener-Waterloo PC)
Substitutions / Membres remplaçants
Mr Jeff Leal (Peterborough PC)
Clerk / Greffier
Mr Trevor Day
Staff / Personnel
Ms Heidi Clark, research officer
Research and Information Services