Procedure and House Affairs Committee on May 29th, 2014

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Okay, $5.5 million is the number we have seen in cost savings.

As those of you who fly regularly know, when you buy an à la carte ticket, you pay the market price, which can fluctuate depending upon when you're able to purchase the ticket, whereas a flight pass locks in a much lower price in advance. Even if it's a last-minute booking, you're not paying the posted rate on a website. You're getting that initial locked-in price, and because of the bulk purchasing by the House of Commons, we get a significant discount.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

That's great to hear.

You mentioned $5.5 million in savings. Is that over a 12-month period, an annual saving, or is it since the time you first started using flight passes?

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

That's per fiscal year.

[A voice]

Wow.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Thank you, Mr. Lukiwski.

Mr. Scott, for four minutes, please.

[Craig Scott, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for being here.

I have a couple of questions.

First, I'm not sure if it's going to be happening this year or if it's already happening, but is there some kind of a plan to begin to integrate the security in the entire precinct between House and Senate? If so, does that have fiscal implications? Will there actually be economies of scale or some kind of efficiencies that are worth noting?

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Yes, and I am glad you asked that. It is something that I personally feel very invested in.

We do have several reports, including one from the Auditor General, who several years ago highlighted it as an area of concern. When you think about it, from Bank Street to the Hall of Honour, you go from the City of Ottawa to the RCMP to the House of Commons on one side of the Hall of Honour to the Senate security on the other side. Those are seams from a security perspective; each transition is viewed as a seam which poses security issues. Then, of course, there's the cost that comes along with that.

There is a move under way. I know I said that last year. If there's a speed below glacial, then we've found it.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

I can say that there is a renewed interest in it. There has been some movement. I don't want to go into too much detail, because some of it is around security, or into how those operational things work, but there will be a savings seen by reducing the redundancy—two separate administrations, two separate protocols, and things like that.

We've also had analysis that shows there will be an improvement in the security aspect as well.

[Craig Scott, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Thank you very much.

The next question may go through you, Mr. Speaker, but Mr. Watters might be in a better position to answer it.

We had some questions from Mr. Butt about the amount of extra budget that will be needed to have a properly functioning office with respect to higher transparency of MP expenses. It was indicated that a fair chunk of that would be towards personnel.

I'm just wondering, have we gotten to the point where...? Are there any issues around health of employees related to stress due to workload flow in any departments, including in finance? Are we absolutely content that we have the right number of personnel, or are we actually getting to the point of losing efficiencies because of stress issues?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

I'm sorry, but we hear the bells, and without unanimous consent we can't continue.

Mr. Speaker, we thank you for coming today.

[Andrew Scheer, Conservative, Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK]

Thank you for having me. It's always a pleasure. It was good to see everybody.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

We did get through most of that round, so I'm pretty happy with that. Thank you very much.

I had a couple of questions too, but I guess I'll have to submit them in written form.

We will suspend, and we will return here after the vote.

Now, we are adjourned.