STANDING COMMITTEE ON REGULATIONS AND PRIVATE BILLS

COMITÉ PERMANENT DES RÈGLEMENTS ET DES PROJETS DE LOI D'INTÉRÊT PRIVÉ

Wednesday 26 September 2001 Mercredi 26 septembre 2001

ELECTION OF CHAIR


Wednesday 26 September 2001 Mercredi 26 septembre 2001

The committee met at 1003 in committee room 1.

ELECTION OF CHAIR

Clerk Pro Tem (Ms Lisa Freedman): Honourable members, it's my duty to call upon you to elect a Chair. Are there any nominations?

Mr Gilles Bisson (Timmins-James Bay): I have one. I want to nominate my good friend Rosario Marchese.

Clerk Pro Tem: Are there any further nominations? If not, I declare nominations closed and Mr Marchese elected Chair of the committee.

The Chair (Mr Rosario Marchese): That's the simplest thing I've ever done.

Is there any other business?

Mr Bisson: You would know that our leader, Howard Hampton, is bringing forward a bill on behalf of the communities around Sioux Lookout in regard to the establishment of a provincial hospital. Just so members know, in Sioux Lookout, as in Moose Factory, the hospitals are run by the federal government because they fall under the responsibilities of the federal government for Indian affairs. What's happening is that both the federal and provincial governments have agreed to take over the hospitals. What's happening in Sioux Lookout is that they're very much in the process of making that happen. So there's going to be enabling legislation coming before this committee to deal with creating the board and do all those other wonderful things that you need to do to create the hospital.

However, I have a question of the clerk, as I understand there are still some people we need to hear from before that bill is allowed to come before us. Maybe you can clarify that just so I'm clear.

Clerk Pro Tem: I can clarify the situation. With the normal process, when private bills come before this committee, people who wish to comment on a bill are heard by the committee. That's the general process with private bills. The one thing that's different with this bill currently is, because this bill had an estate provision, when it was introduced in the House, it was referred to the Commissioners of Estate Bills, as has another bill that Mr Smitherman has. So this bill is not technically referred to this committee yet. Once the commissioners report, if they report favourably, the bill automatically gets referred to this committee.

I contacted the commissioners last week just for an update on the timing of this bill and received a letter back from them saying that they will look at it as soon as possible. So the bill is not technically referred to the committee yet.

Mr Bisson: Then I'll wait until we get the report back from the Commissioners of Estates Bills and we'll take it from there.

The Chair: Any other comment on this issue? Any other matter of business?

Mr Joseph Spina (Brampton Centre): Thank you, Chair. I just wanted to extend congratulations on your newly elected position.

The Chair: You're so very kind.

Mr Spina: We trust that you will carry the job forward with great honour.

The Chair: And neutrality.

Interjection: And a sense of humour.

The Chair: And with a good sense of humour from time to time.

Mr Bisson: I have another matter I want to raise. I don't know if it's the business of this committee, but my good friend Mr Spina is very much involved in the snowmobile industry, as I am in my riding, and does a lot of work to promote that industry.

I'm wondering if it would be appropriate for us to have some sort of ability to do a little bit of work around snowmobile safety and how you park machines on rail lines during the winter months, if you're allowed to park a snow machine on a rail line, and what the process is if such a machine gets hit. Can we do that here?

The Chair: We don't have a private bill in front of us to debate or discuss but, Mr Spina, do you want to quickly comment? If you want.

Mr Spina: I'm not sure whether it's within the purview of this committee, but I'd be happy to respond. It's illegal and improper to park a snowmobile on railway tracks, and particularly to leave the machine there, and even worse if you leave the site of the accident, which is when the train apparently hit this snowmobile. It seems to me that perhaps a legal matter should be pursued here.

The Chair: Thank you, Mr Spina. It's not a bill before us and we don't really have to debate this.

Is there any other matter of business?

Mr Raminder Gill (Bramalea-Gore-Malton-Springdale): I too want to congratulate you for being elected Chair.

The Chair: I have so many friends. Are you sure you Liberal folks don't want to congratulate me as well?

Interjections.

The Chair: Thank you very much. This committee stands adjourned upon the call of the Chair for the next meeting.

The committee adjourned at 1008.

CONTENTS

Wednesday 26 September 2001

Election of Chair T-41

STANDING COMMITTEE ON REGULATIONS AND PRIVATE BILLS

Chair / Présidente

Mr Rosario Marchese (Trinity-Spadina ND)

Vice-Chair / Vice-Président

Mr Garfield Dunlop (Simcoe North / -Nord PC)

Mr Gilles Bisson (Timmins-James Bay / -Timmins-Baie James ND)

Mrs Claudette Boyer (Ottawa-Vanier Ind)

Mr Garfield Dunlop (Simcoe North / -Nord PC)

Mr Raminder Gill (Bramalea-Gore-Malton-Springdale PC)

Mr Pat Hoy (Chatham-Kent Essex L)

Mr Morley Kells (Etobicoke-Lakeshore PC)

Mr Rosario Marchese (Trinity-Spadina ND)

Mr Ted McMeekin (Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Aldershot L)

Mr Bill Murdoch (Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound PC)

Mr Wayne Wettlaufer (Kitchener Centre / -Centre PC)

Substitutions / Membres remplaçants

Mr Toby Barrett (Haldimand-Norfolk-Brant PC)

Mr Gerry Martiniuk (Cambridge PC)

Mr Joseph Spina (Brampton Centre / -Centre PC)

Clerk pro tem/ Greffière par intérim

Ms Lisa Freedman

Staff / Personnel

Ms Susan Klein, legislative counsel