Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Bonjour, tout le monde. Good afternoon. I'm very happy to be here to speak to you today about the House of Commons H1N1 preparedness approach and our response to the issue of the pandemic.
I'm joined today by Kathryn Butler Malette, who is the director general of Human Resources and as such is responsible for occupational health and safety as well as corporate planning and communication services, and the Sergeant-at-Arms, Kevin Vickers, who is responsible for business continuity in a larger umbrella.
To begin with, I would like to provide you with some background to our approach. I will then explain the purpose and the scope of our pandemic plan. I will also give you an overview of the governance structure of the plan and explain how the information will be forwarded, and the corresponding responsibilities. I will conclude by providing you with information on the resources available to members.
As of April 2009--and I'm speaking basically to the PowerPoint slides that have been distributed to you--the draft pandemic plan of the House of Commons administration as it was then was activated at an accelerated rate as a result of the increased pandemic alert levels. We developed the plan with expert advice from Vanguard Emergency Management Consultants, who specialize in business continuity and emergency and pandemic planning and management.
In April 2009 the House administration also created what we call the influenza monitoring committee. It's a senior-level House administration committee that is chaired by Kathryn, and her alternate is Kevin, with experts from across the House administration, and it continues to meet regularly and is closely monitoring the pandemic situation. In the spring it took a number of mitigating actions, including installing additional hand-sanitizing stations across the precinct, increasing cleaning measures in high-traffic areas, issuing regular communication updates to the House of Commons community, and holding information sessions for front-line employees.
We are working closely with our employees, both those represented by unions and the non-unionized, to ensure they are aware of the evolving situation so they can take responsibility for their personal health. The pandemic plan was presented and approved by the Board of Internal Economy on September 28, 2009.
The House of Commons Administration pandemic response plan is designed to, to the extent possible, continue the two business lines of the administration, namely administration as employer and administration as supporting the House of Commons and its members in carrying out their constitutional functions.
The plan is also designed to help the House of Commons, as an institution, and the members of Parliament to manage the impacts of the pandemic on their operations and functions. What is most important is that the House of Commons be able to carry out its activities as part of the state's legislative power. This is a priority for us. This imperative may therefore override the provisions of the plan. We may have to give priority to various services and resources that directly support such activities so that the House of Commons can continue providing the services it deems necessary.
The overall approach of the House of Commons administration pandemic plan is to address appropriate mitigation and preparedness for a worldwide infectious disease outbreak and to define incident response and business continuity objectives that align with a public health emergency. The steps outlined in the plan are modelled on industry best practices and guidance and information that has been offered by the World Health Organization and by federal, provincial, and municipal public health authorities.
To ensure an integrated approach, the pandemic plan supports the House administration's overall business continuity management program and crisis communications plan. The House of Commons administration has extensive business continuity plans in place for potential events that could disrupt the primary business functions of the House of Commons administration, but we're here today really to focus on what we are doing with regard to the pandemic.
I would also like to stress that obviously the pandemic plan is intended to be a living document. It will continue to be revised as additional information and guidance are issued by public health authorities, and we will also be testing the plan through various tabletop exercises to continue to improve upon it.
This is the organization chart, which presents an overview of the governance structure for the pandemic plan for the House administration in the event that an outbreak of influenza results in a high level of employee absenteeism within the parliamentary precinct that affects the level of service normally provided to members. Any decision that would need to be taken on resources that are provided to members and the impact on House administration service levels generally would be brought forward by me to the Board of Internal Economy.
As you know, I'm the senior permanent officer of the House and therefore the head of its administration, and as such I'm responsible for the management of the House in accordance with the policies, decisions, and directions of the Board of Internal Economy. Therefore, I'm responsible for activating the plan, ensuring that it is effectively carried out and that the administration supports the House of Commons and its members in carrying out their constitutional functions, including their roles as employers and as administrators of their members' office budget. It's certain that the influenza monitoring committee itself, which I mentioned earlier, is responsible for implementing the plan here on the Hill and ensuring that the pandemic risk mitigations and response actions are implemented on a timely basis as risk levels change.
As I mentioned, Kathy is the chair of the committee and Kevin is her backup. One of the things I wanted to make clear as well is that I'm working very closely with the whips of the various caucuses, because you all have operations back in your constituencies; you have staff back at the constituencies. So it becomes important that you become partners with us in terms of managing those employees. Obviously, again, because there have been regional outbreaks and these things tend to be sort of localized, you'll need to be paying close attention to what's happening in your region or city and to the advice given by the local public health authorities there.
At the same time, you'll be in contact with your whip and the whips will be in contact with each other. For example, let's take a kind of extreme geographic example: if there were a severe outbreak in British Columbia, what one would likely see is the whips getting together to suggest, first of all, that travel to and from British Columbia be limited, if not done away with altogether, and they would take the kinds of decisions among themselves with regard to the pairing of members for votes and so forth. Those are the kinds of decisions that need to be taken at the political level.
Our discussion at the Board of Internal Economy—without revealing the secrets of the star chamber—was in that vein. Each caucus has its own way of operating. The whips have their own ways of operating with their members. This is a very important partnership for us. If it turns out that there is at any point some kind of difficulty with a member serving his or her constituents because of a very high level of absenteeism in a particular region that's been particularly hard hit, for example, then the whip would likely be bringing that to my attention and I in turn would likely be bringing the whole case, the whole issue, before the board for some kind of mitigation. Again these are hypotheticals.
The important thing is to keep the lines of communication open so that we are aware, each of us in our various roles, what exactly is happening. So the kind of information that is going out from us and from the IMC—the committee that is monitoring these things—that goes out to all employees, will also be shared with all members because we're all part of the Parliament Hill community, and that, obviously, of course, would apply as well to constituency offices in the national capital region.
We have also made a commitment to work closely with our parliamentary partners. In addition, we have regular meetings with the Senate, the Library of Parliament and the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner to discuss issues such as communications, labour relations and the planning of the continuity of operations.
The activities mentioned in the pandemic plan are based on three distinct risk levels: low to moderate, high and severe. The appropriate risk level is determined on the basis of several factors, such as the seriousness of the cases, the spread of the flu, Health Canada's recommendations regarding closures, restrictions on public gatherings, travel and, of course, absenteeism.
Slide 9 gives an overview of the decisions and communications between the clerk, the Speaker and the Board of Internal Economy.
The slide show is an overview of decision-making authorities, communication flows, and responsibilities. Based on the pandemic risk level, decisions would be brought forward to the appropriate body.
The Board of Internal Economy is, of course, responsible for administrative decisions at the policy level, and these would include decisions on mitigation measures to cope with high absenteeism that might, perhaps, for example, affect levels of service in certain administrative functions. One thinks perhaps of IT, information technology, where a lot of our workers are quite young. So it's not only that they, themselves, might be affected, but because a lot of them have young children, we might be in a situation where they're at home taking care of sick kids.
Along with the Board of Internal Economy, I'll be working closely with the whips, as I mentioned, to monitor impacts on your office and research staff and the mitigation measures that may be required if a member's ability to respond to constituents is affected. Whips are responsible for monitoring the impact on their members and for bringing forward to me problems on a case-by-case basis.
In keeping with standard practice, members will continue to be guided in the management of staff by the Members' Allowances and Services manual in such matters as the administration of leave and the terms and conditions of work.
Up-to-date and accurate information about the pandemic will be provided by the House administration to members and their staff and to the employees of the House administration, as I just said.
As the pandemic could have varying impacts across Canada, it's important to note—and I repeat this, because I think it is a very important feature—that members need to be guided by their local health units in their local constituencies for their constituency office pandemic planning. That is in addition to the guidelines provided by WHO and the Public Health Agency of Canada. Likewise, on Parliament Hill, we are guided by these matters.
I guess the last matter I should mention, because there have been questions about it, concerns what we have every year, usually around this time, or maybe a little bit later, which is the vaccination for the seasonal flu. It's important to understand that the vaccination program for seasonal flu is not within our control. That is something that is recommended and managed by the Public Health Agency. Public health authorities have told us that at this time they are not going to go ahead with vaccination programs, and we're going to be issuing, tomorrow, a communiqué to staff and members to advise them formally of that. There are no plans for the traditional seasonal vaccination day, if you will, nor are there any plans for vaccination for H1N1.
The recommendation coming so far from the Public Health Agency is that vaccinations for H1N1 are available to people over 60 years of age, and that's in the community at health clinics or at family doctors' offices. That, as I say, is not really within our control. That's something that's controlled by the health agencies. I wanted to make that clear, because of course people have come to count on that every fall.
Lastly, I just want to mention that there is a tool kit for members that provides Qs and As about leave and dealing with employees and so forth, and that's available on the Internet site.
The House Administration has prepared this information kit. In addition to these tools, resources and general information on pandemic awareness, it includes questions and answers designed to help members in their role as an employer. The kit is available on Intraparl.
I hope this very brief overview has been useful. We would be happy to take your questions.
