Evidence of meeting #156 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.
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Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
To follow up, I'm not sure it's good to end that mandate, because the West Block is finished but we're still commenting on things that could be changed here. They're then going to do the Confederation Building and all these other buildings. Centre Block is only the beginning. I think we should leave it to later PROCs to decide whether to get it out of their mandate. I think it's good that we're looking at the parliamentary precinct.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
You're correct in that the LTVP is a very long-term plan, and it started many years ago. West Block wasn't the first, and Centre Block won't be the last. When we finally finish going through all the buildings, it will probably be time to do the first one again.
This is an ongoing and permanent mandate to oversee the structure and function of the Hill.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
I take your point. I think I've already relayed the story of how, when I was a teenager, I was involved in working at an engineering firm—Clemann Large Patterson consulting engineers—when they were involved in the final stages of the renovations to the East Block, which is now due for renovations, so there you are.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
The clerk said that, if the committee is willing, he could come back next meeting with some wording.
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Okay, we'll do that.
We'll come back with an improved motion. Do you want that to be part of a report, so we get on the record everything we heard from those witnesses for future discussions, or do you just want to approve a motion and send that to the House?
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
My inclination would be to just send the.... You know what, I'm not sure of the answer to that, because there are two things to think about here. One is that we're making a motion that would be a change to the Standing Orders. Presumably that should be kind of a stand-alone. It'd be odd to have anything else in there.
On the other hand.... Thank you for passing out the latest Hill Times. I think Rob Wright summed up really well the thing I had been struggling to say. I think it would be helpful for our committee to say this—I don't know if it would be in the same report or in a separate report—in a way in which the House can concur in it prior to September, when they block off half the front lawn for an indefinite period of time.
What I have here is the headline “'Appetite suppressant' needed for Centre Block wish lists, says PSPC”. Truer words have never been spoken. I kept asking in earlier meetings who the parliamentary partners were. Well, now I know what they meant. The Senate as a whole, the House of Commons as a whole and the Library of Parliament as a whole have submitted the following items on their wish lists. Everybody says, “We would like to have these things”, and everybody says, “It would be really nice if our thing could be right there in Centre Block.” As a former Centre Block office resident, I fully understand why people would like that. However, we now know that accommodating all those things involves digging a hole in the front lawn big enough that you can literally take Centre Block and drop it in. Have a look at the map—it's actually true.
We've given them.... Even a snake that can unhinge its jaws can only eat so much. We've given them too much, and we need to get back the message, “Hey, we all need to start paring down our asks of PSPC, because they are impracticable.”
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
What about this? We do your motion separately, hopefully very shortly in an upcoming meeting, so that your motion doesn't get derailed, and then we ask the researcher to do a report based on the witnesses we may or may not get to. That way we'd get your motion done, and it's up to the committee whether we get to the report.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
Yes. Because you were looking at me, you weren't in a position to see the expression on our analyst's face as we assign him that task, but—
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
Maybe I could just ask our analyst.
Andre, what challenges would be involved in doing that?
Andre Barnes Committee Researcher
The Library is here to serve the committee. There's no doubt about that.
We are in the midst of trying to fry several fish for the committee. We could find someone to write a witness summary, if that's what the committee would like. I would like to be involved in it, but I probably wouldn't have the time.
I would have some concerns, but we could get it done. If that's the will of the committee, we certainly would get it done.
Conservative
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
Everybody now knows what the problem is. That is now out in the public domain. I'm hoping our friends, the media, will take some of that material, which some of them are collecting, and say, “Here's the practical problem we face.”
NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
I hear your quandary. I just looked at it and thought, “Well, what's the downside of not having the report?”
The efficient thing is to let the motion go alone. Is there anything lost? I'm not sure there is. As long as we maintain that information within our considerations, that's where it needs to be right now. It seems to me that speed is of the essence. In terms of anything anybody wants from the House, you had better get your dibs in early.
Those are just some thoughts, Scott.
Conservative
Scott Reid Conservative Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, ON
If the committee is agreeable, maybe the pared-down approach is the better one.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Okay. Can you come back next meeting with some wording we can discuss?
Conservative
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
We'll try to get that done. As David said, anything.... This is a doable thing in the time remaining.
At our next meeting, we're looking at the parallel chambers report, and then at Mr. Christopherson's motion.
NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Chair, if I may, do we want to start the study before we even begin the process, or anything else, and invite the delegation in to give us their presentation, so that we can understand exactly how big the project is? From there, we can make a plan of attack. Normally, we do it the other way around, but in this case, given that it's being driven by MPs, it seems to me to make sense to give them a chance to come in, be heard and make their case. Then we can decide what the process is. We are going to break it down. I can imagine some of the long discussions we're going to have. It'll be interesting, but we'll break that down piece by piece, and go through it.
We could do it ahead of time, but, again, anything that delays it.... Time is our enemy right now, so I'm constantly thinking that if we have options that allow us to get things done and moving, that is really the prime consideration.
I'm not married to that, colleagues. I just throw that out as a thought, in terms of how we might begin.