Evidence of meeting #2 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 40th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was computers.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Yes, but once they are inside the building, that isn't an issue. In summer, busloads of tourists visit Parliament. Once they enter the building, they have cleared security.
11:50 a.m.
Clerk of the House of Commons, House of Commons
Yes, but they tour the building as a group and then leave.
11:50 a.m.
Clerk of the House of Commons, House of Commons
Security is nonetheless an important consideration. I know for a fact that the parliamentary restaurant at the Quebec National Assembly is open to outside visitors.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
But you have to admit that access to that restaurant is a different matter.
11:50 a.m.
Clerk of the House of Commons, House of Commons
Indeed, and that's where we have problems.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
So then, from what you're saying, you are considering all of your options in order to keep as many employees as possible on staff and not be forced to lay them off...
11:50 a.m.
Clerk of the House of Commons, House of Commons
That's right. And while we are on the subject, I believe I appeared before the same committee at an earlier meeting. We have made special arrangements with the casino and with the Château Laurier to hire on employees when the restaurant closes. We do our best to...
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
11:50 a.m.
Clerk of the House of Commons, House of Commons
Well, we've been somewhat successful in that agreements have been reached. It may not be the kind of success that we were hoping for, because some employees are more interested in making their own arrangements than they are in taking advantage of existing options.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Thank you.
I have a question for Mr. Bard. I'll come back to you later, Mr. Speaker, Madam Clerk.
Mr. Bard, you're familiar with my love of third party software. No doubt you remember that I was in love with my Palm Pilot system because I could easily incorporate into the system software supplied by companies other than the manufacturer of the Palm Pilot. The same is true of BlackBerry devices. It's quite an industry. Software is developed by third parties and there are all kinds of benefits to this.
Yet, on the Hill, we do not appear to be treated like private sector companies or other governments. You do not allow users of BlackBerry devices to add software other than the software supplied by BlackBerry. I'm not calling into question your staff's expertise, but in this modern age, we are just about the only ones who cannot add software to our devices.
Is there any hope at all that sometime in the not-too-distant future, this decision might be reversed, Mr. Bard?
11:55 a.m.
Chief Information Officer, House of Commons
Thank you for your question, Mr. Proulx. Again, I know how passionate you are about this technology. I'm always encouraged to see a Member ask these kinds of questions. However, this is something the Board of Internal Economy discussed last year. The question was raised at the time and we had promised to present a strategy for activating third party software in the fall.
These environments do present some problems. There are in fact approximately 2,000 or 2,500 different software programs on the market. When a Member experiences a problem with his BlackBerry, he wants the problem corrected right away. Often Members ask us to meet them either in the lobby, in the hallway or in their office and to resolve the problem immediately. We receive requests from people who are using GPS software, for example, and the associated costs can be quite high. We've received requests for assistance with all types of software, ranging from software to manage one's weight to software to manage personal finances. We need to be sure that we can provide software support, without adversely affecting our current level of service. At present, Members and their staff have 1,000 BlackBerry devices. They are the biggest users of these devices. They rely on them even more than they do on laptop computers. In any case, we will be formulating a strategy to allow users to download third party software onto these devices.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Thank you, Mr. Bard. I don't expect you to arrange for 2,500 or 3,500 different software programs to be accepted. However, perhaps a few, within limits.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Thank you. I look forward to sitting on the Board of Internal Economy and to seeing your report.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Peter Milliken Liberal Kingston and the Islands, ON
Perhaps you have a Christmas software wish list.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
I'd be delighted to make some timely suggestions, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, Ms. O'Brien, according to the estimates, an additional $8,093,000 is being allocated for operational requirements. However, according to our researchers, no breakdown of this amount is provided. This is an enormous sum of money and I would like to have some idea of how the costs break down. More than likely we are talking about an additional $8 million for improvements.
11:55 a.m.
Clerk of the House of Commons, House of Commons
Are you referring to the $8,093,000?
11:55 a.m.
Clerk of the House of Commons, House of Commons
Mr. Albrecht asked the very same question. It's a matter of a Treasury Board reporting requirement whereby there must be a separate capital vote, but only when capital expenditures exceed $5 million. Since House capital expenditures total about $3 million, a separate capital vote is not required. As a result, we have this technical adjustment.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
You say that this is merely a technical adjustment and that there is no real increase. That is what I failed to understand when you answered Mr. Albrecht's question.
11:55 a.m.
Clerk of the House of Commons, House of Commons
No, it's zero, because there was a capital input, and then a capital output.
11:55 a.m.
Clerk of the House of Commons, House of Commons
These are some of the technical mysteries of Treasury Board.