Procedure and House Affairs Committee on April 30th, 2019

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

A minute and a half.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

I don't want to go in camera and disrupt the number of people who are here, but perhaps at the end I could come back for a minute and a half of in camera. Is that permissible?

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Yes.

Mr. Nater.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, I appreciate that.

I think I would probably have a question for in camera as well, following up on the intelligence unit as well if there is time at the end to put some of that together.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Okay, we'll go in camera at the end.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and witnesses this morning.

I'm probably going to jump around a little bit in my questions, as I often do, to try to touch on a few different things.

In your opening comments, you commented on the Centre Block rehabilitation project. I think that's something this committee is fairly interested in. As you know, it has had a number of conversations on this. You had mentioned in your opening comments that parliamentarians would be consulted and involved in discussions every step along the way.

We understand from the Board of Internal Economy that there is going to be a working group. I would appreciate a little more clarity on that and how that's going to play out on the ground. How will parliamentarians be consulted? What formal jurisdiction will you, as Speaker, and our House, through you, have over this project?

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

It's a very good question, because I don't know that the jurisdiction is formal; I think it's more informal. This is in development, the committee that we've talked about, but as I've expressed before, I think it's up to us as members of Parliament to continue, on an ongoing basis, to insist on being integrally involved in this process and the development plan.

I know Michel Patrice, the Deputy Clerk, Administration, would like to add a bit of information.

I mean, he may not like to, but I'm going to ask him to.

[Michel Patrice, Deputy Clerk, Administration]

I think at the end of the day what is important is, as we discussed at the last meeting.... The chart will be coming in terms of the many players involved. At the end of the day, what is important and what the administration position is, as supported by the board and this committee, is that the requirements are defined by members. This is your workplace, so your needs and your requirements are the essence of the role and the importance of the House of Commons.

In terms of the execution of the contracts, giving out the contracts, public tendering and all of that, the requirement in terms of the heritage fabric, this rests elsewhere than the House.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

I think from this committee's and parliamentarians' perspective, it's very much the functional aspect we envision. There are multiple tenants, whether it's the House, the Senate or PCO. Of course, the Library and PPS have an actual jurisdiction as well. Going forward, I think this committee will be very active, and recognize that we have seven weeks before this session ends. I'm hoping that in the new Parliament, those of us who, hopefully, will be here again will continue to have a significant role to play in defining that functionality.

I did want to follow up on one specific aspect. A few weeks ago, we had witnesses here talking about the elm tree. It does seem a little silly, but I think it was an important issue, because it underlines where Parliament's role ends and where it begins. At that time, witnesses talked about the second phase of the visitor welcome centre, which is going to be blasting into the bedrock on the front lawn of Parliament. It is a very significant undertaking.

I'm curious to know whether that project has been formally approved by someone or some entity. Has the Board of Internal Economy approved phase two of the visitor welcome centre for the front lawn of Parliament?

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

I can say that it's certainly been part of the plans, if I recall correctly, that the board has seen over time, but perhaps Michel can tell us about the approval part of that.

[Michel Patrice]

The concept of the visitor welcome centre has been approved by the board. The space it will occupy, the design of it, is still in the works. There are many options on the drawing board, but the final design or proposal, in terms of square footage and all of that, has not been finalized.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

When was the last time the board formally approved the concept?

[Michel Patrice]

I would have to get you the dates. It's many years ago.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

I think that's a concern for this committee and parliamentarians. Something that was approved even a year ago, let alone possibly a decade ago....

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

If I may, I think the thing to understand is that the board has had updates on the long-term vision and plan, including various elements as they've been developed. It may not have formally approved it, nor has it said, “Hold on a second, this is a major problem we have with a, b or c.” If concerns have arisen, they've been taken into account, as far as I've seen.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

One of the symptoms we saw when we were discussing the tree.... The argument was that the tree had to be removed for phase two of the visitor welcome centre. Phase two of the visitor welcome centre doesn't seem to be very far along in the process, so we're making decisions based on a concept and approvals that, in some cases, are somewhat outdated and quite unclear, in terms of the process. I think that's a concern for members and for this committee in particular.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Some members have visited other parliaments. I'm thinking, for example, of the Parliament at Westminster in the United Kingdom, which has an interesting set-up for visitors, and particularly for classes and school students. There's a room where they watch an interesting audiovisual presentation, a virtual presentation about Parliament. They get an introduction so that when they go into the building, they have a better understanding of what it's all about. That's among the things I foresee being included in that space.

[John Nater, Conservative, Perth—Wellington, ON]

I think the U.K. is far ahead of us, in terms of that interaction.

I have about 30 seconds left, and you may not have time to answer this in full, but I want to talk about cybersecurity. In the lead-up to the upcoming election, the concept of foreign influence is top of mind for a lot of Canadians. There is a lot of personal data, confidential data and extremely important data kept on computers and servers here within the parliamentary precinct. I'm curious to know what steps have been undertaken by the House, and perhaps by PPS, to ensure that this data is safe, and is not going to be seen as a problem going into the election, and more generally for Canadians on a day-to-day basis.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Before I turn it over, I want to point out the importance, in terms of members of Parliament and our staff, of course, of looking out for phishing emails. Be suspicious of emails that have a strange heading, even if the emails come from someone you know. Sometimes opening emails, especially in terms of opening links, could be a problem and could allow someone to access the information on your phone, computer or tablet. Those are all things to be very aware of, as we've heard before. It bears repeating.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Be quick, please.

[Soufiane Ben Moussa, Chief Technology Officer, Information Services, House of Commons]

Thank you for the question. I don't think I will be able to do it in 30 seconds, but to comfort the honourable member, the House of Commons has invested quite a bit in cybersecurity. We do have a strong program in the House that is composed of many aspects. Awareness is one of the main aspects that we think gives us the biggest value, but also we have a good relationship with national and international partners. We also work with many parliaments similar to ours, the U.K., U.S., Australia and others, to exchange threat vectors and to react to them. We have a service that is now expanding to 24-7.

I don't say that we are 100% safe. I don't think anybody is 100% safe, but we are doing everything possible, everything in our power to protect the institution of Parliament.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Thank you.

Mr. Christopherson.

[David Christopherson, NDP, Hamilton Centre, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Speaker, it's good to see you again for the last go-around. It's the last go-around, guaranteed, at least between you and me. With any luck you'll be here many times again, Speaker, and I wish you well on that, but this is our last go.

I know you'd be extremely disappointed if I didn't raise the issue, along with my good friend Mr. Graham, of PPS, but I will take your advice. Your comment at the end was that, if it's due to labour relations, we should do it in camera. It sounds as if we're going in camera anyway, and I will have a couple of questions and will ask for an update.

We'll do that maybe in camera, Chair.

I'll limit my remarks to some financial questions.

In your presentation, a couple of pages in, you said that there's a $650,000 allocation to build on existing security investments at the vehicle screening facility, which we, of course, lovingly refer to as the car wash. Here's my question. The thing was designed, studied, built. By my recollection, there was at least one major upgrade. There may have been even more, but there was at least one major upgrade since then.

Now we're looking at another $650,000, so my question is this. When is the darned thing going to be done, and why weren't the issues that are being addressed now not addressed in the beginning when the planning was done?

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

This question sounds familiar to me because I asked the question, and Madam Côté will be able to respond.

[Supt Marie-Claude Côté]

Thank you for the question.

The increase of expenditures for the vehicle screening facility concerns surveillance videos we now must add or improve. That is the portion for which we are requesting funding.