Legislative Assembly of Ontario

The committee met at 0901 in room 151.

Committee business

The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): Good morning. I call the meeting of the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs to order. On the agenda today, we have consideration of committee business.

Are there any motions the members wish to make? MPP Crawford.

Mr. Stephen Crawford: I move that the committee enter closed session for the purpose of organizing committee business.

The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): You’ve heard the motion. Any discussion? MPP Fife.

Ms. Catherine Fife: Obviously, we just want to be consistent. We object to going in camera just to talk about the business of a public committee, especially finance. It has been a pattern of this government to always move in camera and hide our business. We should be open and transparent, especially during these challenging times in Ontario. So we’re just voicing our opposition to going in camera.

The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): MPP Kernaghan.

Mr. Terence Kernaghan: I’d like to point out that last year, when we were deciding on committee dates, I had indicated that there were many places missing from southwestern Ontario. It has come to the official opposition’s attention that the Minister of Finance did in fact visit and gave the impression of having pre-budget consultation, but that was not with the official opposition present, so it really was not something that was entirely forthright or honourable. The people who attended those sessions were given the impression that it was for the purposes of pre-budget consultation, and deliberately omitting the official opposition was a very curious move by this government.

The Chair (Mr. Ernie Hardeman): Further discussion? Is the committee ready to vote? All those in favour? All those opposed? Motion is carried.

We’ll just take a short break before we go into closed session.

The committee recessed at 0903 and later continued in closed session.

STANDING COMMITTEE ON FINANCE AND ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

Chair / Président

Mr. Ernie Hardeman (Oxford PC)

Vice-Chair / Vice-Présidente

Ms. Catherine Fife (Waterloo ND)

Mr. Deepak Anand (Mississauga–Malton PC)

Ms. Stephanie Bowman (Don Valley West / Don Valley-Ouest L)

Mr. Rick Byers (Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound PC)

Mr. Stephen Crawford (Oakville PC)

Mr. Andrew Dowie (Windsor–Tecumseh PC)

Ms. Catherine Fife (Waterloo ND)

Mr. Ernie Hardeman (Oxford PC)

MPP Andrea Hazell (Scarborough-Guildwood L)

Mr. Terence Kernaghan (London North Centre / London-Centre-Nord ND)

Mr. David Smith (Scarborough Centre / Scarborough-Centre PC)

Ms. Effie J. Triantafilopoulos (Oakville North–Burlington / Oakville-Nord–Burlington PC)

Clerk / Greffière

Ms. Vanessa Kattar

Staff / Personnel

Ms. Heather Conklin, research officer,
Research Services