You're too kind, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much.
Good morning--or afternoon, whatever it now is; I guess we're into the afternoon.
Today I will be presenting the House of Commons Supplementary Estimates (C) for Fiscal Year 2009-2010.
The proposed Supplementary Estimates (C) for the House of Commons total $9,872,988. I would like to stress at the outset of this discussion that all items in the House of Commons Supplementary Estimates (C) were presented to, and approved by, the Board of Internal Economy.
For reference purposes, you have been given a document showing the voted appropriations and statutory appropriations that are included in the Supplementary Estimates (C). To facilitate today's discussion, I will provide a brief overview of each item in the order that they have been presented.
First of all, the supplementary estimates (C) provide $5.1 million in additional funding for the production of ten percenters.
This funding is required due to an anticipated significant increase in the demand for individual ten percenter products. Based on the first six months of operation in 2009-10, we expected an increase of 87% in volume. According to the members' allowances and services manual, members may request an unlimited number of ten percenters, provided that the content has a 50% difference from other ten percenters that are produced.
However, due to the anticipated increase in ten percenter volumes and the related costs, the Board of Internal Economy decided at its meeting on December 7, 2009, to impose an upper limit to the number of impressions for the remainder of the fiscal year, divided according to party proportionality.
The funds that are provided in the supplementary estimates will cover the required funding for these new printing allocations as approved by the board.
Next, the Supplementary Estimates (C) allocate $628,000 to cover collective agreements and salary adjustments for House of Commons employees, specifically employees working in the Technical Group, lawyers and senior managers. The economic increases of 1.5% are in accordance with the Expenditure Restraint Act and were approved by the Board of Internal Economy.
You will also note that the supplementary estimates (C ) include $100,000 for members' resettlement provisions. As you may be aware, following a general election, members who are not re-elected are entitled to certain resettlement provisions, which can cover such services as financial counselling, retirement counselling, and education costs. There is no permanent budget for the resettlement provisions. Rather, funding is sought following a general election and is strictly based on the reimbursement of allowable expenses to former members.
Following the October 14, 2008, general election, the board approved this temporary funding in 2009-10 through supplementary estimates (C).
Furthermore, the supplementary estimates (C) reflect a re-profiling of funds in the amount of $115,000. This funding is for the implementation of an integrated procurement and contract management module in order to automate the procurement and materiel management process. The project was launched as planned in October 2009; however, difficulties in obtaining the required external resources have led to a delay in the project schedule. As a result, the funds will lapse in 2009-10 and will be requested for 2010-11.
The modernization of materiel and contract management continues to be a priority, and work on the integrated procurement and contract management module is progressing with other phases of the project.
Additionally, the supplementary estimates (C) allocate $2.7 million to the travel points system. The current budget for the travel points system had remain unchanged at $18.6 million since 2005-06; however, travel expenditures charged to the travel points system have increased in recent years, reaching a point where the current budget is insufficient to meet resource requirements. The increases in travel costs are attributable to rising prices in the travel industry, which can be explained in part by a capacity constraint among airlines, competition between leisure and business travel, surtaxes on airline charges, and increases in ground transportation costs. As per the Parliament of Canada Act, the travel point system ensures that all members have access to the same transportation resources regardless of where their constituency is located.
The supplementary estimates (C) also allocate $860,000 to the new service-level agreement for the provision of high-speed constituency communication network services. The contract for this service was renewed in June 2007, which presented an opportunity to review requirements based on members' feedback.
The additional funding will allow for the delivery of enhanced services to Members in their constituency offices and will enable access to Members' Ottawa office data from constituency offices. Enhanced services will also include a higher level of security, uniform services for all Members and shorter timeframes for network installations.
As with the travel points system, the constituency communication network is a statutory item as per the Parliament of Canada Act.
Finally, the supplementary estimates (C) allocate $600,000 for a pension adjustment to the members of Parliament retirement compensation arrangements account. The cost to the House of Commons for contributions to members' pension plans is determined and managed by Treasury Board based on actuarial calculations. The Treasury Board has estimated a $3.2 million deficit in the retirement compensation arrangements account as of March 31, 2009. Pursuant to the related legislation, the president of the Treasury Board has determined that the deficit should be amortized with interest in six instalments over a seven-year period beginning with the 2008-09 fiscal year. An annual amount of $600,000 is therefore required until the 2013-14 fiscal year.
Similar to the travel points system and the constituency communications network, the members' retirement compensation arrangements account is also a statutory item.
I have now provided you with an overview of the House of Commons Supplementary Estimates (C) for the Fiscal year 2009-2010.
At this time, the Clerk and I will be happy to answer any questions that you may have.
Thank you very much.
