ELECTION OF CHAIR

ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIR

APPOINTMENT OF SUBCOMMITTEE

COMMITTEE BUSINESS

CONTENTS

Wednesday 3 November 1999

Election of Chair

Election of Vice-Chair

Appointment of subcommittee

Committee business

STANDING COMMITTEE ON GENERAL GOVERNMENT

Chair / Présidente
Ms Marilyn Mushinski (Scarborough Centre / -Centre PC)

Vice-Chair / Vice-Présidente
Mrs Julia Munro (York North / -Nord PC)

Mr Toby Barrett (Norfolk PC)
Mrs Marie Bountrogianni (Hamilton Mountain L)
Mr Ted Chudleigh (Halton PC)
Mr Garfield Dunlop (Simcoe North / -Nord PC)
Mr Dave Levac (Brant L)
Mr Rosario Marchese (Trinity-Spadina ND)
Mrs Julia Munro (York North / -Nord PC)
Ms Marilyn Mushinski (Scarborough Centre / -Centre PC)

Substitutions / Membres remplaçants
Ms Shelley Martel (Nickel Belt ND)

Clerk / Greffier
Mr Viktor Kaczkowski

Staff /Personnel
Ms Lorraine Luski, research officer, Legislative Research Service

The committee met at 1544 in committee room 1.

ELECTION OF CHAIR

Clerk of the Committee (Mr Viktor Kaczkowski): Good afternoon, members. Honourable members, it is my duty to call upon you to elect a Chair. Are there any nominations?

Mr Ted Chudleigh (Halton): It's my great honour to nominate Marilyn Mushinski for the position of Chair. If she's anywhere near as good at chairing as she is at crossword puzzles, she'll make a magnificent Chair.

Clerk of the Committee: Are there any further nominations? There being no further nominations, I declare nominations closed and Mrs Mushinski elected Chair of the committee.

ELECTION OF VICE-CHAIR

The Chair (Ms Marilyn Mushinski): Thank you for the honour. It's now my duty, honourable members, to call upon you to elect a Vice-Chair. Are there any nominations?

Mr Garfield Dunlop (Simcoe North): I'd like to nominate Julia Munro as the Vice-Chair of this committee, and it's a privilege to do so.

The Chair: Any further nominations? There being no further nominations, I declare nominations closed and Mrs Julia Munro elected Vice-Chair of the committee.

APPOINTMENT OF SUBCOMMITTEE

The Chair: Do we have a mover of the motion to appoint a business subcommittee?

Ms Shelley Martel (Nickel Belt): I move that a subcommittee on committee business be appointed to meet from time to time at the call of the Chair, or at the request of any member thereof, to consider and report to the committee on the business of the committee; that the presence of all members of the subcommittee is necessary to constitute a meeting; and that the subcommittee be composed of the following members: Mr Chudleigh, Mr Levac and Mr Marchese; and that any member may designate a substitute member on the subcommittee who is of the same recognized party.

The Chair: Is there any discussion on this motion? All those in favour? Those opposed? That carries.

COMMITTEE BUSINESS

The Chair: Is there any other business?

Mr Chudleigh: I would like to suggest that one of the first items of business this committee will be addressing will be the appointment of an Environmental Commissioner. In order to speed up that process, I wonder if the clerk could be instructed to circulate a list to the House leaders for consideration by the members as to the criteria for the various number of people who have made the short list; and that on the first opportunity following next week's break, we have a briefing from the human resources people from the Legislative Assembly to apprise us of the method by which they arrived at the short list for our approval; and then as soon as possible after that, we commence with the interviews of the various people.

The Chair: You're suggesting that this be the first item of business for this committee. Are you also suggesting, Mr Chudleigh, that this be sent to the subcommittee first, prior to coming to the committee?

Mr Chudleigh: No, I'm suggesting that it be sent to the House leaders for distribution. I believe that's the proper format, to send it to the House leaders for distribution to the committee so that they are aware of it. Is that not correct?

Clerk of the Committee: I'm not privy to the process regarding the appointment of the Environmental Commissioner, so I would certainly suggest that someone from human resources be advised of your wishes and be asked to deal with your request.

Mr Chudleigh: If that would happen on the first opportunity following the constituency week break, it would be helpful to the committee, I believe, if they had the written criteria prior to that meeting so they could review those criteria and be prepared to ask questions, so they know what the criteria would be.

The Chair: So, it has been determined that that is coming to this committee.

Mr Chudleigh: Yes.

The Chair: Is everyone agreeable to that request?

Mr Dave Levac (Brant): Just a question of clarification for Mr Chudleigh: Your comments suggested that human resources have given us a short list or have created a short list already.

Mr Chudleigh: It's my understanding that they have created a short list; I believe there are three people on it. They've used the criteria to get there. It's those criteria that I think we should be apprised of prior to the meeting so we can ask somewhat intelligent questions. Then, as soon as possible after that first meeting or maybe even at that meeting, depending on how the logistics work out, we could begin the interview process with the people. I understand we have to approve the process they have used to arrive at that short list, and they will also have a list of people who didn't make the short list for our consideration.

Mr Levac: Madam Chair, if I may, I would definitely agree with what Mr Chudleigh has said. I would also recommend and support his premise that it be sent to the House leaders and follow a process, because I think that would educate absolutely everybody involved who has been elected who might have a comment to make. I think it's a really good process, even if it turns out that it's not the one that normally is the protocol. I think it's a great way to go.

Mr Chudleigh: Viktor, if you could ensure that the members of the committee get a copy of it, and maybe a copy could also go to the House leaders so they're aware of it as well.

Clerk of the Committee: It's my understanding, then, that you will want a copy of the criteria, the short list and the complete list. I shall contact human resources and ensure that it's distributed to all members of the committee prior to our next scheduled meeting, which would be Monday, November 15, I believe, at 3:30. If everyone is in agreement-

The Chair: Is everyone in agreement? OK.

Mr Chudleigh: Good. Thank you very much.

The Chair: Any further business?

Mr Levac: Could I ask that all meetings be run like this, this quickly?

Mr Toby Barrett (Haldimand-Norfolk-Brant): I'll second that.

The Chair: The meeting is adjourned.

The committee adjourned at 1551.