Evidence of meeting #142 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 commissioner.
A video is available from Parliament.
Michel Patrice Deputy Clerk, Administration
To answer your question, I would say it would come from both sources, Public Services and Procurement and also from the House of Commons main estimates.
In terms of the House of Commons main estimates, a lot of it would be about staff, in terms of assisting or helping, and also about replacing certain pieces of equipment. But mainly it would be from procurement services.
Conservative
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
That's the primary place. Therefore, I presume it would go through the main and supplementary estimates of the department, as opposed to the House.
Our involvement, once we hand it over.... At some point, there will be requirements for us to deal with things like equipment, as Michel mentioned, but the renovation and reconstruction of the place is of course primarily up to the department.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
Right.
Do you sit on any non-parliamentary advisory groups related to the parliamentary precinct renovations?
Liberal
Deputy Clerk, Administration
There's no such group that exists at the present time, so the Speaker obviously doesn't sit on any such group.
Deputy Clerk, Administration
Obviously, it's intended that we're going to have a discussion with the board later this week in terms of the governance and oversight that members of Parliament must and should have in terms of the Centre Block requirements.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
There was a parliamentary precinct oversight advisory committee that obviously was not a formal part of the funding approval process, but it did exist. It was established in 2001, and it was chaired by former speaker John Fraser. Does that still exist, as far as you know?
Deputy Clerk, Administration
It doesn't exist anymore. I believe, at that time, that group was reporting to the Minister of Public Works.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
Are you aware of any successor that reports to the minister?
Deputy Clerk, Administration
No. There is none at this moment. In terms of a going-forward process, we are having discussions with Public Works to ensure that members of Parliament, the board and committees such as this one can have meaningful input on the requirements.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
I have just a few seconds left.
Do you have any idea when you would be getting back to us with suggestions as to what that process might look like?
February 19th, 2019 / 11:25 a.m.
Deputy Clerk, Administration
It will be as soon as possible. As I said, we're going to start that discussion with the Board of Internal Economy, which has the main oversight, I would suggest, in terms of the requirements and the needs of the House and its members.
David Christopherson Hamilton Centre, NDP
Thank you, Chair.
Thank you for being here, Mr. Speaker, as well as the Clerk and everyone else.
I'd like to pick up where Mr. Reid was. I know, Mr. Speaker, that you're aware of the reaction to this committee when it came forward, when we had reflected on West Block and felt there was a real absence of individual MPs collectively having a say. I understand you're going to talk to the Board of Internal Economy.
My question is for you, Mr. Speaker—and I'm not holding you to anything; it's just off the top of your head. We've talked about this a little bit. We've just begun the process of saying we need to be more involved, and we're now talking about how we can do that.
I'm not aware of a formal mechanism per se between us and/or you and/or BOIE. We could create something ad hoc—there's nothing to stop us from communicating with each other—but Chair, it's my understanding that we don't have any formal process per se.
What are your thoughts, Mr. Speaker, as we go through this? Do you have any advice, concerns or ideas that you'd like to leave with us as we do our part of it? I'm looking more at process. How do you see us playing that useful role in a meaningful way without being both irrelevant and too big a problem?
It is a tall order, but just give your thoughts, sir.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
Mr. Christopherson, I don't see you as a big problem. I want to assure you.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
I appreciate your interest on issues like this.
Obviously, you know that the committee is a master of its own affairs and can examine the things it wants to examine. I would hope that on an ongoing basis, this committee will pursue this topic and will not only, of course, have visits from me as Speaker—or Speakers and administrations in the future—to discuss this, but that you might also want to call folks from Public Services and Procurement to talk about the renovation at Centre Block and how it's going, and to make sure that the concerns of MPs are being heard.
So far, I have found that when, in the process, I have raised issues with the architects and others, from both the House and PSPC, they have been very attentive and anxious to hear what the concerns of MPs are, to understand how the building operates. When John Pearson and Jean-Omer Marchand designed the building, back in 1916, and over the ensuing period, they clearly sought to understand how Parliament worked, how members of Parliament operated, what they needed to do their jobs well, the access that was needed for the public, etc. They didn't have the security concerns that we have today, but they were anxious to do all those things. And I'm impressed that the architects seem to be concerned about all those things.
While I expect the Board of Internal Economy will seek some type of formal mechanism on an ongoing basis, I think this committee might have a less formal, but continuing, interest in this matter, making sure that it has witnesses to talk about this on an ongoing basis and that it is able to express its concerns.
Hamilton Centre, NDP
I liked it all, except the end part. You were watering down our role there. I'm not keen on that.
Liberal
