Procedure and House Affairs Committee on May 14th, 2009

[Audrey O'Brien]

It has already been done. At the time, every Board of Internal Economy was kept up to date at an information session specifically on food services for the House. Next October I will be celebrating my fourth anniversary as Clerk, a position I have held through three Parliaments. I have noted that, because of turnover, this matter has not been broached recently at these information sessions. I want to start out on a sound footing and explain the budget for the restaurant and the parliamentary dining room.

On that basis, we can let the Board of Internal Economy decide if it wants to implement the pilot project, as you suggested.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

You seem very pessimistic. I might go so far as to say that a decision has been made before the situation has been analysed. That is the impression I have from what you said.

[Audrey O'Brien]

I am not promoting my views over those of the Board of Internal Economy. It may very well decide to move forward with this initiative even though it is not what I would do. If that were the case, I would implement its decision.

However, I must tell you that what I have learned does not make me optimistic. I do not believe that it is very good value for money.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

All right. I—

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

You're well over your time.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

Okay. I will come back in another turn.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

If you have a very quick question, I'll let you go very quickly.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

There are three other points that I did want to raise.

When you go to the parliamentary restaurant, you talk to people. There are rumours circulating at present that the kitchens will be reorganized and there will be a central kitchen. Is that right?

I also wanted to talk to you about disruptions in the computer network. Mr. Bard is here and I would like to take advantage of the Speaker's presence. The situation seems to be less serious now but our staff has talked about lengthy disruptions in the computer network. Furthermore, the problem of spam, pornographic and other e-mail seems to have been curtailed or corrected. I even came over to your desk to have you read one. You blushed with embarrassment.

[Audrey O'Brien]

That is your interpretation. I must say that what is required is a skin that is somewhat more—

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

It contained a recipe for a big dick and I was not familiar with that English term.

[Audrey O'Brien]

I have no comment to make on that.

However, I really like the French term for spam, that is pourriel.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

Exactly.

My caucus colleagues, especially my female colleagues, asked me to intervene. I have to say that the problem seems to have been corrected. We no longer receive complaints.

Is it because those who send the spam have decided to give us a reprieve before starting up again or because work has been done on the network?

[Audrey O'Brien]

I will start with that question because it is fairly easy to answer. I spoke to Mr. Bard about the situation and he informed me that artificial limits, if you will, were not placed on MPs' e-mails because some MPs had complained that it led to filtering out of information that had to be forwarded to them.

However, to deal with your complaints, a second attempt was made to activate the filters appropriate for this type of situation. In my opinion, that had a lot to do with solving the problem.

As for the network, I know that there was a major crash at the end of March but I have not heard about a series of long disruptions. Mr. Bard may perhaps be able to clarify that matter.

With regard to the reorganization of the kitchen, I think it has been a great success. We managed to convince Public Works and Government Services that, as part of the parliamentary precinct renovations, the kitchen, which is presently located in the West Block, should be moved when the building is closed. A brand new kitchen is being built. This is known as a production kitchen. I am not sure if we can call it a commercial kitchen. It is located outside the parliamentary precinct and is brand new, even in terms of cooking technology. We are making these changes for two reasons. We are closing the West Block kitchen, where meals are prepared, and we are taking this opportunity to create another space so that when the West Block re-opens, it will be devoted entirely to parliamentary functions. The kitchen is not a parliamentary function.

There will be a new commercial kitchen. Meals will be safely prepared and delivered to the point of sale. Of course that will require a reorganization of the kitchen staff. The Sergeant-at-Arms, Mr. Vickers, and the Food Services Manager are working very closely with staff to provide training for these new technologies.

We are very pleased with the way things are going. Naturally, there are always some people who feel anxious when they see changes of this magnitude on the horizon. But at the end of the day, they will learn to use the new technology. It may end up being an important step in terms of career advancement. As for the renovation project, it has been a rare success story for us.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Thank you very much.

I did promise that we'd be able to dismiss the witnesses before noon, so I think that's the route we'll go. Then we'll ask the committee if we're ready for the question on the estimates.

[Audrey O'Brien]

Can Monsieur Bard answer the question about the network?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Certainly. I know that Monsieur Bard will be brief.

[Louis Bard]

Mr. Guimond, I am always impressed by the Clerk's ability to answer questions about technology. I congratulate her.

You are right. There was only one network crash. On that day, we lost contact with the House towards the end of question period. While resolving the problem there was another short disruption at about 7 p.m., at the end of the day. It was actually a mechanical problem.

As for what happened in April, everyone has read in the newspapers about the Conficker worm, which originated in Taiwan and resulted in sites being bombarded by millions of e-mails. During the same time in April, the seal hunt opened. In less than 48 hours, we received almost one million e-mails to be distributed to MPs.

We must always ensure that we provide service to MPs. We place these messages in quarantine and then deliver them intermittently. Some may have felt that service was slower and not the best, but I can assure you that everything has returned to normal.

With regard to infrastructure, important upgrades have been made to the e-mail system, especially with regard to firewalls. Many technological changes have been implemented. I am pleased with the results we see today.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

All right.

I thank the witnesses for their open and fruitful comments today. I hope the committee has gained all it needs to be ready for the question.

Shall vote 5 for the House of Commons, under Parliament, minus the amount granted in interim supply, carry?

PARLIAMENT House of Commons Vote 5--Program expenditures..........$283,524,000

(Vote 5 agreed to)

Shall I report same to the House?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Great.

Is there a motion to adjourn?

[An hon. member]

Absolutely.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Great.

The meeting is adjourned.