Government Operations Committee on March 12th, 2012

Mike Wallace Burlington, ON

I think it's procedural. When the bells ring, the day's over.

The Chair Pat Martin

That's the second question we have to ask. Is there a willingness of the committee to come back after the vote? They're half-hour bells. We won't be voting until 4:30. If it takes 15 minutes to vote, we can be back here by ten to five.

Mike Wallace Burlington, ON

I'm fine with coming back for the officials.

John McCallum Markham—Unionville, ON

Then we'd have 40 minutes.

The Chair Pat Martin

I don't suppose the minister is available to come back.

Let's adjourn the committee now, and we will reconvene as soon as possible after the vote, at approximately 5:45.

I will suspend the meeting for that period of time with our thanks to the minister for her presentation today. We appreciate it very much.

The Chair Pat Martin

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the resumption of our 33rd meeting of the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates. We will continue with the examination of the supplementary estimates (C) 2011-2012.

We're pleased to have with us as witnesses various officials from the Department of Public Works and Government Services, including the assistant deputy minister, Mr. Ring; François Guimont, the deputy minister; Alex Lakroni, the chief financial officer; and Mr. Stephen Twiss, the director general of the program management sector, real property branch.

Am I missing anyone?

The Chair Pat Martin

I'm sorry, I don't have my glasses on. I can't see that far away.

Ms. Gina Rallis, senior assistant deputy minister and chief financial officer of corporate services. Excellent.

Liseanne Forand, welcome.

I'll stop doing this because we're just burning up time. Why don't we go back to the questioning.

When we adjourned, Kelly Block still had 21 seconds left to conclude.

The Chair Pat Martin

She took only 21 seconds. Okay, that's right.

Mike Wallace Burlington, ON

Man, you're tough on us with 21-second questions.

The Chair Pat Martin

You have four and a half minutes left, Kelly, a luxury of time.

Kelly, you have the floor. Welcome.

Kelly Block Saskatoon—Rosetown—Biggar, SK

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to join my colleagues in welcoming you all here today. I did appreciate the minister's opening remarks.

From the short time that I've been on the government operations and estimates committee and learned about the work of this department, I think you are to be commended on a number of fronts. Whether it's the process used in the staffing reductions and Shared Services Canada, the national shipbuilding procurement strategy, or being named one of the top 100 employers, I think you are doing very commendable work.

I had the opportunity to tour some of the renovations that are taking place on the parliamentary precinct. I noted that in the public works main estimates there is a reduction of $75.2 million for the long-term vision and plan for the necessary renovation and rehabilitation of the parliamentary precinct. I believe the minister alluded to it being on budget and on time, but I would like to give you an opportunity to give us a little bit more detail around that.

Before you do that, I just want to say that I think every member of Parliament needs to go on this tour to see what is actually happening in those buildings.

Thank you.