Evidence of meeting #53 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 overtime.
A video is available from Parliament.
Administration and Personnel Officer, Parliamentary Protective Service
We hope they will all pass.
Supt Mike O'Beirne
Our intention is to train them so they're successful. In some instances, we do have varying success rates, yes.
Liberal
Filomena Tassi Liberal Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON
What would the average success rate be—90%?
Supt Mike O'Beirne
Again, those are the types of figures I would be more than happy to provide outside of this meeting, if you don't mind.
Liberal
Filomena Tassi Liberal Hamilton West—Ancaster—Dundas, ON
Okay. I know my time is almost up, Mr. Chair.
I appreciate your attention to this matter. I think it's a matter of concern. When I'm speaking on security—and I don't want to mention any names or anything—I don't want to see personnel overtaxed. I don't want to see them exhausted, not only for their own safety and wellness, but also for the safety of those they're protecting.
Thank you very much.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Before we go on to Blake, for the record, you've committed to getting three things back to the committee. You can get them to the clerk. One is the amount of overtime that's going on. Second is the number that you need to be fully staffed. Third is the success rate in the training program. If you could get that to the clerk, then we will give it to the committee members.
Mr. Richards.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Thank you.
I have a number of questions, so we'll see how we can do here.
The first one I want to ask about is that you mentioned briefly in your opening remarks the mobile response team initiative. I wonder if you or Mr. O'Beirne could briefly give us a sense of what that team and initiative is.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
Once again, I think this is an area where he has a better idea than I do of what we should tell you and what we shouldn't in open meetings.
Supt Mike O'Beirne
The mobile response team initiative is going to be a group of individuals who are trained to respond to a broad spectrum of events that can occur within our area of operation. They're going to be operating amongst the existing forces.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
You seem reluctant to give us much more information than that.
Is that because of this meeting being public? Is that the idea?
Supt Mike O'Beirne
I would look very much forward to providing you further information on that, and perhaps in a different medium, yes.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Maybe we could set aside a couple of minutes at the very end, Mr. Chair, to do that. Would that be possible? Is there any objection to that?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Does anyone have any objection to doing the last five minutes in camera so we can have more discussion on that item?
No?
Okay.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate that and we'll undertake to do it.
I'll move to some other questions I have. You mentioned also in your opening remarks the communication resources to support both internal and external messaging in the PPS. I think I can imagine what the internal messaging would be, but maybe you could focus on the external messaging and give us some sense of what type of services are being provided for that funding.
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
There are times when there are media inquiries about issues related to security on the Hill, whether incidents have occurred, or what have you, and where there is a need for a response from the PPS itself. It does that in coordination with my office and, I suppose, with the Speaker of the Senate's office.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Would someone like a media relations officer be hired? Is that what we're speaking of, then, or someone who dedicates a bit of their time to that?
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
There's media relations, and sometimes you need someone doing graphics for internal communications, that kind of stuff.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Also mentioned in your opening remarks was $400,000 in temporary funding to support the baggage-screening facility at 90 Wellington for 2017-18. It was termed “temporary funding”. I'm wondering why it would be temporary? Why was it felt there was only a need for that funding for that period of time, and why would it not be permanent?
Supt Mike O'Beirne
We asked for that as a temporary measure because we're looking at re-examine that contract moving forward. We're looking forward to the commissioning of the visitor welcome centre in 2018. That's another one of those initiatives that will inform us on how best to navigate this large-baggage phenomenon we have to deal with. That's why we're asking for it as a temporary measure, and we look forward to revisiting that.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
So you will be re-evaluating it after that point and determining what the permanent needs would be.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Fair enough.
Along that same line, you mentioned in a response to an earlier question the decommissioning of Centre Block, which coincides with a move to West Block. In my understanding, the expectations are that this would occur in 2018. Whether that happens or not, we'll see. Regardless of when it happens, you've been doing some planning for that. I wonder if you have any sense of what it is going to look like? What kind of challenges will that present? What kind of costs will there be?
Liberal
Geoff Regan Liberal Halifax West, NS
On the question of the timing, we are operating under the expectation of being in there in February 2018, but I'm looking forward to a meeting before too long with the officials from Public Services and Procurement Canada, which has custody of the building, to determine when it will be handed over to the House of Commons administration. There are things we have to do once that happens. They hand it over to us in a certain state, and then we have to get it into the readiness state, which is a different thing. It's going to require some months to do that. I'm anxious to know what date they're going to assure us that they're going to hand it over to us.
That doesn't answer your question, I don't think. That was actually part of the preamble, not part of the question.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Would we be able to look to Mr. O'Beirne, if that is who was going to respond, for the remainder of the answer?