Procedure and House Affairs Committee on April 24th, 2018

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Mr. Nater.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker and our witnesses, for joining us here today.

I want to begin with a more general question about some of the vacancies we see in the House of Commons. As we know, our Sergeant-at-Arms has been in an acting position since January 2015.

Have you, as Speaker, been consulted in terms of the appointments process, or about candidates for some of these vacancies, including that of Sergeant-at-Arms?

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Generally speaking, I am consulted. I'm trying to recall offhand whether I've been consulted in relation to that position. I don't recall it offhand. I have in the past been consulted in relation to similar positions.

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

Do you have any concerns that some of these positions are, at this point, three-plus years in acting positions?

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

You're probably asking me to get into an area that the Speaker shouldn't get into to comment on.

[Nathan Cullen]

Go ahead.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

I want to thank Mr. Cullen for his kind offer that I should go ahead and wade into dangerous waters.

I think members like to see positions filled in a reasonably expeditious fashion.

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

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

At this point in time, do you have any anticipation of coming back to Parliament with supplementary estimates, either for the House of Commons or for PPS?

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

I'm going to ask Michel to—

[Michel Patrice]

In relation to the House of Commons resource requirements, it is the intention, other than the carry-forward that comes as a matter of course, not to come for supplementary estimates. We feel that the budget that's been approved by the board will be sufficient for us to carry forward to the next month.

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

You saw me touching—

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

I saw that, yes. I'll hold you to that word “touching”.

And PPS?

[C/Supt Jane MacLatchy]

We are reviewing the LTVP requirements. We've just completed a posture review using an outside expert to allow us to fully analyze the numbers we need going forward, particularly during the transition from Centre Block into West Block and GCC. We're still reviewing that. It is possible that we will be coming forward with further requirements, but I can't confirm that will be the case at this point.

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

Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, it was mentioned in your opening comments about the new disclosures for House officers and caucus services research offices.

Do you have an anticipation of what these disclosures will look like? Will they be similar to what is currently in place for members' offices? If not, what are the differences in those disclosures?

[Daniel G. Paquette, Chief Financial Officer, House of Commons]

They will be similar in fashion...having that summary level. The look and feel may be evolving because we're evolving the technology we're using. I think we'll be able to have a little easier access on the ourcommons.ca website for the drill-down when we get into the details for the hospitality and travel.

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

Mr. Speaker, you recently ruled on a point of privilege raised by my colleague Luc Berthold about access to the gallery during the budget process. You mentioned in your ruling that there was going to be work done to improve communications and processes for these types of large events.

Would you be able to provide an update on whether any of those changes have been implemented, or what plans are in place to deal with those types of issues?

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

I've given that direction, but I'll ask the Sergeant-at-Arms if he has any news for us on that front.

We're looking forward to next year's budget, which is what we're talking about, so that's a ways off at this point.

Mr. McDonell.

[Patrick McDonell]

There was a miscommunication on that day to a guest of Mr. Berthold.

In reviewing and discussing it with Chief Superintendent MacLatchy, I think we can make improvements on the communication between the Sergeant-at-Arms' office and her on-ground personnel, the operational personnel, on days of major events such as a budget day.

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

Thank you.

Now, as has been touched on, we will hopefully be moving to the West Block this fall—I think is the anticipation—and with that, the new visitor welcome centre.

I potentially have a few questions. I'm not sure how much time I have to get into this, so I may defer to colleagues in future rounds. At this point, looking at the new visitor welcome centre that will be operational with the West Block, will there be changes in procedures in terms of how members' offices and guests of members are processed and dealt with going through the visitor welcome centre, or will it be similar to what is currently the case here in Centre Block?

[C/Supt Jane MacLatchy]

We're still developing our standard operating procedures based on the new facility. However, what I can tell you is that the level of screening will remain the same. The actual process, the flow patterns, are something we are working on, and we will be sure to advise this committee and all parliamentarians when we have that standard process developed.

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

If it becomes the situation that the move into West Block is delayed, am I right to assume then that the use of the new visitor welcome centre will be delayed, that the welcome centre won't be used unless we are physically moved into West Block?

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

I'm told that's correct.

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

I have a question more generally about the West Block. In doing a tour last year, we were told that the parliamentary press gallery would be moved, rather than above the Speaker, to facing the Speaker.

Is that the case?

[Geoff Regan, Liberal, Halifax West, NS]

Mr. Cullen said “FaceTime”. Poor them.

It's the same place. It's not changing. So the good news is they don't have to look at my face.

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

The bad news is that they'll see the rest of us more clearly.

That's great.

In terms of the go or no-go decision, will there be additional costs anticipated if the decision is made to delay past September 2018 to a further date? Will there be an anticipation of additional costs, either from a PPS perspective or a House administration cost perspective?