Evidence of meeting #26 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 41st Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was million.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
Sure. I shouldn't be long.
To get back to the teleconferencing issue, a lot of us on different committees are looking into increasing its use.
I have a curious question. Do we have an average on having in-house visitors as opposed to an average on teleconferencing? What are the cost differences there? A lot of these sorts of things can actually cost more in the long run. I'm curious as to whether we have an average-to-average costing.
Clerk of the House of Commons, House of Commons
Mr. Chairman, I don't have those figures with me, but I can certainly check with committees and information services and look to providing that to the committee.
Conservative
Bob Zimmer Conservative Prince George—Peace River, BC
It would be interesting to see accurate cost comparisons.
Thank you.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joe Preston
Thank you.
Ms. Charlton, would you like four minutes of grilling—?
NDP
Chris Charlton NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON
Thank you; I would—well, at least I'd like to ask a couple of questions.
First of all, let me make a comment. I always appreciate these kinds of presentations because it gives me an opportunity to catch up to the new government lingo. I never knew that moving an expenditure from one fiscal year to another meant you were “reprofiling” money. I'll try to use that in my personal budgeting as well. It sounds very impressive. Thank you.
I do have a question about the supplementary estimates (C), especially since they deal with the period since the last election.
I wonder if you could tell me whether there has been an increase in the costs associated with interpretation. I know from our caucus that the need for interpretation services has dramatically increased since the last election, obviously because of the huge success we had in Quebec. We're now functioning in a fully bilingual way. I know the interpreters we have do an amazing job for us, but I also know the resources are really, really stretched.
It is important to be able to continue to provide that service to both our caucus members and our staff for meetings. I wonder if there's a reflection of that increased need in the numbers before us today.
Conservative
Andrew Scheer Conservative Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK
It's my understanding that nothing in the supplementary estimates is for that aspect, but perhaps Mark could tell us if there has been a higher level of expenditure on interpretation.
Chief Financial Officer, House of Commons
I'll have to get back to you exactly on that.
Clerk of the House of Commons, House of Commons
Through you, Mr. Chairman, as Ms. Charlton has noted, there are increased uses of interpretation by virtue of the official opposition's situation. We're monitoring that very closely and we're in close contact with the government department that provides the interpretation services. That's paid for out of a government department budget allocated to us.
I know they're stretched very thin at the moment, but they're finding that the budget they have seems to be adequate to their needs for the moment. We're keeping a very close eye on that situation, for the simple reason that there have been unanticipated calls for interpretation. For example, the interpretation provided to members in a given meeting with other members is one thing, but if it's staff with other staff, then that falls into a different category, according to the government guidelines. That's something we've negotiated with them to keep a close eye on.
As Mark was saying, I can certainly talk to them to see what kinds of moneys we're talking about in terms of increases.
NDP
Chris Charlton NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON
Thanks. That would be really helpful.
Can you tell me which department that is? I'm sorry; maybe I should know that, but I don't. Which government department is actually responsible for that?
Clerk of the House of Commons, House of Commons
It's Public Works and Government Services.
NDP
Chris Charlton NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON
Okay. Thank you very much.
The other question I have is to understand what I'm reading here in terms of the ministry summary on the supplementary estimates (C). It says there are expenditures in lieu of residence to the Speaker of the House of Commons and in lieu of an apartment to the Deputy Speaker.
Let me just ask the question straight up. What is that?
Conservative
Andrew Scheer Conservative Regina—Qu'Appelle, SK
That is part of the members' allowances act. It's a stipend, in addition to salary, paid to the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker.
Conservative
NDP
Chris Charlton NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON
Methinks thou dost protest too much.
Seriously, I am just asking for clarification, because you, as Speaker, have a residence here in Ottawa, right? Does the Deputy Speaker as well?
NDP
Chris Charlton NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON
If you have a residence, what does “an allowance in lieu of residence” mean, when you clearly have a residence here?
Conservative
NDP
Chris Charlton NDP Hamilton Mountain, ON
“Program expenditures, including allowances in lieu of residence to the Speaker of the House of Commons...” is what the sheet in front of me says. I'm just trying to understand what that means.
Clerk of the House of Commons, House of Commons
I confess that this has caught me off-guard as well. Perhaps by virtue of my Catholic background, I've just seen it so often that it seems like something that I'm quite used to. However, I will check to see exactly what it means.
There are allowances that are provided by the Speaker. This particular formulation, I confess, I've never even read before.
Conservative