Evidence of meeting #20 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 43rd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was witnesses.
A recording is available from Parliament.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
—so we're working on it, but we'll let you know through the clerk as soon as possible.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
I might be able to be helpful on this. I have very similar thoughts to Ms. Blaney, actually. I think there might be a way to move forward on this and to comply with what we've been told.
I know Ms. Blaney has to leave. I know I have somewhere else that I have to be very shortly as well.
Perhaps we could just schedule a little time at the beginning of Tuesday's meeting, or however it needs to be done, so that we can just have this discussion and figure out a path forward. I think I would have some suggestions on how we might be able to do that, but I think it's going to require a little discussion.
Knowing that we have two [Inaudible--Editor] chairs who won't be able to be here much longer, it might be helpful to hold that discussion on when we can both be here.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
It's up to the committee, I guess, but my opinion is that when we have witnesses waiting, I'd prefer to try to keep the discussion to the end just because it's really difficult scheduling these witnesses, and then—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
—if we have a conversation that runs overtime, at least at the end it's us figuring out our schedules or trying to get a substitute, but in the case of witnesses it becomes quite difficult.
As for the next meeting, maybe we could just consider baby steps, not an end goal or the end date. Is it okay if we move forward with the international witnesses—two panels of them—at the next meeting? Is everybody okay with that?
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Madam Chair, what you're suggesting is that we then have committee business following—
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
Correct.
Committee business will be scheduled for the meeting next Tuesday at the end of our two panels of international witnesses. Is that okay?
Everyone seems to be in agreement with that.
I look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.
Mr. Clerk, are you going to refer to the issue that was brought up last meeting?
The Clerk of the Committee Mr. Justin Vaive
Madam Chair, I just want to flag that last item to you, with respect to the statement.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Ruby Sahota
Thank you.
I know that Ms. Blaney has had to leave.
There was an issue that by Mr. Genuis at the last meeting. I did say that I would come back with an explanation of what may have occurred during that time.
Has Mr. Richards also left this meeting? No, Mr. Richards is here as well. Okay, we have some of the Conservatives members.
I want to just address that issue so that during committee business at the next meeting we can deal with the work plan ahead.
Basically, Mr. Genuis—for those of you who weren't here—mentioned that he was cut off from the meeting for approximately 10 minutes, so I'll just take a moment to address that. The last meeting was on June 2. He indicated to the committee that during the in camera portion of that meeting, starting at approximately 12:47 p.m. and for a duration of approximately 10 minutes, his House of Commons computer stopped working and stopped responding, and as a result, he was disconnected from the meeting. He indicated that this technical issue prevented him from effectively carrying out his important work in this committee.
At the time, I committed to following that up and learning more about what had happened. The digital services and real property service of the House of Commons, the DSRP, has confirmed that the machine had not been responding and that, regrettably, his system appears to have crashed at that time. I understand that a DSRP IT ambassador has already reached out to Mr. Genuis to see if there are any proactive steps that can be taken to hopefully avoid this situation from occurring next time.
As I've stated many times in my opening statement, should a technical problem occur, members and witnesses are reminded to contact the IT ambassadors right away. They are available before, during and after the meeting, but it's mainly during the meeting that they are there. Please let us know next time you get disconnected so that we can try to handle this issue in real time or suspend the meeting temporarily so that we can take care of the issue so that everyone can participate. The contact information for the technical support team is included in the log-in information that is sent to members before each meeting, as well as on the Source site.
In addition, when issues arise, the IT ambassadors will inform the clerk, who can then advise me of the problem. In this case, had the support team been informed of the situation by Mr. Genuis, by his caucus colleagues, by his staff or by the IT support, they could have shared this information with me. At that time, I could have advised the committee or even taken the appropriate action, such as temporarily suspending the meeting, much like we do when the interpretation system is not working. Should any other members face a similar disruption during a meeting going forward, I would ask them to immediately let the clerk, the support staff or myself know so that the appropriate action can be taken in the future. As members know, while relatively rare, it is possible that computers and internet connections can malfunction, and other technical glitches can occur from time to time. While we have a robust infrastructure and support system in place, this is unfortunately one of those challenges that we are all navigating in this new virtual environment. We also know that little technical issues do arise in committee rooms from time to time as well.
In all of these cases, as chair, I remain mindful of this, and I am ready to work with all members of the committee to ensure that the proceedings may take place with as few technical issues as possible and to deal with them as they may arise from time to time. I hope that this clarifies the matter for all of the members and that if there are any other issues, you will bring them to my attention, either now or in the future.
That is what occurred during that meeting. Hopefully, the members can also advise Mr. Genuis of that matter. We are still in public, so he will also be able to take a look at the blues of the meeting or listen to the recorded meeting itself.
Is there anything else that anyone would like to say before we adjourn for today? All right.
We will see you at the next meeting for international witnesses, and we will discuss the work plan then as well.
Thank you.