Evidence of meeting #132 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was pps.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Nathan Cullen NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Is that a fair request, for those numbers to be provided to us?
Liberal
Scott Simms Liberal Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL
Thank you, Chair.
I have a question about the move that's happening. I'm not sure how you can answer it. It's somewhere between you guys and Public Works, obviously, but I'll save that.
I have a quick question, though, for you, Ms. MacLatchy. You mentioned earlier the two bargaining units, that you're not in favour of that and PPS says they want to have the two units. I understand that there's no jurisdiction in this country, but have we looked into what other jurisdictions around the world do? What happens in the parliamentary system in Westminster, Australia or New Zealand? They're similar types of systems. Do they have internal bargaining units?
C/Supt Jane MacLatchy
In terms of the labour structure...?
I'm afraid I don't know the answer to that, sir. I would have to seek it.
Liberal
Scott Simms Liberal Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL
Okay. I'm interested in that because maybe we should compare to what they do, as an example, and how they handle Parliament.
Yes, there are parliaments across the country but they're not bicameral. They're not as big as this one. Perhaps that's something that we want to consider in all of this when it comes to the bargaining units.
C/Supt Jane MacLatchy
We have actually gotten a lot of interaction with our partners—federal parliaments, for a lack of a better term—in Australia, the U.K. and those sorts of places in terms of operational information, but no, I have no information in terms of their labour structure. I can certainly seek that.
Liberal
Scott Simms Liberal Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL
Okay. Thank you.
Can I go back to the move situation? We've been delayed now. I know that in the fall we were hoping to go in. Now we're going in, I'm assuming, in January or February. Where are we on that? Is that reflected in this or is it more for Public Works?
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
Originally, the plan was to go in during the summer, to start moving after the House rose at the end of June. In fact, that partly happened, in the sense that members who had offices in Centre Block and were not going to have offices in West Block were moved this summer. The House officers and so forth, the whips and House leaders, etc., and my office have not yet moved and will be during the December-January break. On January 28, the House will sit in West Block, in the interim chamber.
By the way, I should tell you that if members are interested in touring it, there will be opportunities weekly to do that. We're going to have a weekly time slot. I know that a lot of members haven't seen it yet and would like to do so.
Liberal
Scott Simms Liberal Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL
I have a quick question. As far as budgetary concerns go, for this delay what are we looking at? What's the impact to the overall budget for this project?
Feel free to comment on the Senate as well, if you wish.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
My understanding is that because in fact some work has already been able to begin here there's not an impact, but I'll go over to Dan Paquette or Michel.
Michel Patrice Deputy Clerk, Administration, House of Commons
I could say that there's no negative impact in terms of the so-called delay and the fact that we're moving and transitioning to the interim chamber in January. Everything has been accounted for and budgeted in the main estimates that you have for this fiscal year.
Deputy Clerk, Administration, House of Commons
I would be reluctant to comment on what's going on in the other place.
Liberal
Liberal
Scott Simms Liberal Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL
Sorry. It's just a matter of interest.
I'm very interested in that because I'm also interested in the technology. I don't know how much time I have here, but one of the things that I wanted to see is in terms of the fact that when people stand up in the House and do a speech, there's a clock. It's quite visible, rather than.... No offence, you're very good at it. You hold up your hand for one or two minutes or whatever it may be. I appreciate that.
In most jurisdictions around the world, or any parliamentary assemblies, they have a visible clock. It may not mean a lot to other people, but are we considering that and other types of technologies for the interim chamber?
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
I've seen that, for instance, in France, and I think it may exist in Washington, but not in Westminster, of course. At any rate, that's the sort of thing where the House would have to decide that it wants this different process whereby you have a clock that starts at 10 minutes and then goes down to zero, or 35 seconds down to zero, but that hasn't been the House's decision up until now.
Liberal
Scott Simms Liberal Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame, NL
Does it require a change in the Standing Orders to include that technology?
