COMMITTEES 

I am currently the Vice-Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security for the first session of the 39th Parliament.

The complexity of parliamentary business and the large number of MPs makes it impossible for the House to examine legislation and other matters in detail during normal sittings. Therefore, some duties of the House are divided up among parliamentary committees, which are given specific mandates and are required to report back to the House. This way, a matter can be considered in greater depth, and the views, explanations and testimony of interested parties who are not parliamentarians can be heard more easily. As well, discussions between parliamentarians can be more direct. This system allows the House to deal with more business while both government and opposition backbenchers can have a chance to put questions to ministers, officials, and other witnesses. 

The standing committees are struck at the beginning of the first session of each Parliament and last for the life of the Parliament. Each standing committee must have not less than seven and not more than 14 members. In drawing up the lists of proposed committee members, the House Management Committee takes into account recommendations from the Whips, who in turn have taken into account the qualifications and interests of the MPs. For the first session of the 36th Parliament, I was assigned to the Standing Committee on Natural Resources and was elected vice-chair of the Standing Committee on Transportation (Members of the Standing Committees elect a chairman and two vice-chairmen. Of these three, two must belong to the party in power and one to the opposition.) For the second session of the 36th Parliament, I sat on the Standing Committee on Finance. 

Any MP may take part in the public meetings of any committee, whether he belongs to it or not, but only committee members may vote, move a motion, or present an amendment. The Standing Orders allow MPs to arrange replacements when they cannot attend a committee meeting. 

House committees perform five major functions: they review legislation, examine estimates, carry out inquiries, examine order-in-council appointments and may have a monitoring role as well. Their legislative function is the most important, as it is indispensable for the passage of legislation. 

Review Legislation

Both legislative and standing committees are called upon to conduct a clause-by-clause study of bills referred to them by the House. The committee studies the bill in detail, calls as witnesses officials, experts, and technical witnesses, and may propose amendments designed to refine and improve the proposed legislation. The underlying principle of which has already been approved by the House at second reading. The committee's job is to make sure that the form of the bill is the best possible. 

Examine Estimates

The 1968 reform made standing committees responsible for reviewing departmental estimates for the upcoming fiscal year. The main estimates for each department are referred to the appropriate standing committee no later than March 1 of the current fiscal year. The nature of the department's mandate determines which standing committee will be responsible for this review. For example, the Agriculture Committee examines Agriculture Canada's estimates. The Minister responsible for each department appears before the committee to justify the estimates publicly, bringing along senior departmental officials so that the committee members can ask for clarifications. The opposition MPs on the committees take advantage of the opportunity to question the department's programs and policies. Review of the estimates by committee enables Parliament to keep an eye on public expenditure. It has the further benefit of forcing the departments to be more rigorous in preparing their estimates. 

Carry Out Inquiries

Having a committee consider a given topic is an excellent way for the Government to glean opinions, suggestions and criticisms. Often committees travel across Canada, receiving briefs and hearing from specialists and the public. The Government uses all this information in reaching decisions. 

Examine Order-in-Council Appointments

Another role for parliamentary committees is to review non-judicial appointments made by orders-in-council. Notices of such appointments are tabled in the House, and in the 30 sitting days following each appointment or nomination, a committee can review the candidate's qualifications and report to the House. Committees do not, however, have the power to veto these appointments. 

Monitoring Role

The functions of monitoring and overseeing government behaviour are an important part of committee work. Through its committees' review of departmental estimates, the House monitors public expenditures before they are incurred. 

Committees make decisions on the basis of a majority vote, usually taken by a show of hands, and most work undertaken concludes with a report, which generally includes a description of the committee's activities and a list of the recommendations it is submitting to the House. The chairman signs the report in the committee's name before presenting it to the House. During Routine Proceedings, when the Speaker calls for committees to present their reports, the chairman or vice-chairman of the committee, or even simply one of its members, presents the report in both official languages. He may comment briefly, and a member of the Official Opposition on the committee may, if a dissenting opinion is appended, comment briefly on the minority's reasons for dissenting.