Evidence of meeting #31 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was able.
A video is available from Parliament.
Deputy Clerk, Administration, House of Commons
Through you, Madam Chair, in the pilot project, as has been reported in the board's minutes, definitely there was an aspect that required the same quality in terms of interpretation that the translation bureau would offer.
Deputy Clerk, Administration, House of Commons
The same standards of quality.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
Okay. Is there a way that can be verified? I've heard that is not the case, and I just want to make sure that's correct.
Chief Information Officer, Digital Services and Real Property, House of Commons
Through you, Madam Chair, one of the recommendations, Ms. Blaney, is that moving forward, for now we would be using interpreters from the interpretation bureau. That was one of the recommendations that came out of the pilot of the board.
Chief Information Officer, Digital Services and Real Property, House of Commons
We would use the same qualifications and they would be provided by them.
Liberal
Anthony Rota Liberal Nipissing—Timiskaming, ON
If I could add on to that, the pilot project was to see if it was viable to go outside of the interpreters bureau, and it determined that, no, for now, we stick with what we have. We might look at it down the road again, but for now we stay with what we have, and we work with the parameters we have or the limitations that are there.
NDP
Rachel Blaney NDP North Island—Powell River, BC
My time is almost up, so I'll concede the last 10 seconds.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Bardish Chagger
Thank you, Ms. Blaney.
Mr. Calkins, five minutes go to you, followed by five minutes for Mr. Gerretsen.
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Red Deer—Lacombe, AB
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
This is just a quick question. Are we able to maintain now, with the hybrid or the virtual capability, the same operational tempo that we were at in 2019, prior...? Are we able to support at the same level our operational tempo—committee meetings and so on—at the same tempo?
Deputy Clerk, Procedure, House of Commons
Through you, Madam Chair, I would say not quite. There are still requests made of the House administration for, as has been raised, caucus meetings, additional committee meetings, etc., and we're not always able to support that.
Deputy Clerk, Procedure, House of Commons
As mentioned earlier, it's up to the whips to decide what gets priority.
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Red Deer—Lacombe, AB
Yes, I remember that. I probably knew the answer to the question before I asked it, but I asked it anyway.
I have a question for you. In 17 years of being a member of Parliament, I've had my name only called once by the Speaker of the House when I did not rise to speak, and that was when I was in my constituency office. It had nothing to do with the IT capabilities of the people here, but it had everything to do with the IT and the capabilities.
I don't live in what I would consider to be a remote rural area. I live on the Highway 2 corridor in Alberta. I was unable to connect to the House when my name was called, and I was very frustrated that my IT service provider was unable to get me connected.
How often does that still happen?
Chief Information Officer, Digital Services and Real Property, House of Commons
Through you, Madam Chair, I don't have the exact details, Mr. Calkins, but I can say that the mobility enabling requirements for hybrid are one of the key principles: having proper Internet and having a proper cloud service provider are key elements that we need to offer for hybrid.
It does happen sometimes, as you remember. I've been at the House for 25 years and there's only been one time that the House has been down, and it was through an Internet outage during the pandemic. It does happen. We've seen it in a limited number of times, and it does happen to members, depending on where they're located.
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Red Deer—Lacombe, AB
Most of the things we do in the House of Commons and our committees writ large are public, and they should be public.
For those times when we are in an in camera meeting or a caucus meeting per se, which is being delivered jointly through a hybrid or whatever you want to call it—a virtual process—can you guarantee to this committee and the members of Parliament currently here that everything we do and say in an in camera meeting is not exposed because somebody is participating virtually?
Chief Information Officer, Digital Services and Real Property, House of Commons
To answer this simply, I cannot guarantee that, sir. I don't control the end person—where they are participating. I can only guarantee the infrastructure we provide, to make sure that it is secure.
Conservative
Chief Information Officer, Digital Services and Real Property, House of Commons
I wouldn't want to comment on the cabinet, sir. We provide support to them, but I would leave that answer to the cabinet participants with regard to what they offer from that service and who participates.
Conservative
Blaine Calkins Conservative Red Deer—Lacombe, AB
Okay, thank you.
There are organizations, consultancies, professional firms throughout the world that guide corporate entities and businesses on their ability to make good decisions so that they have good governance structures. They provide business consulting, for example.
Has the speakership or anybody in the leadership we see here today consulted with any third party organization about post-pandemic recommendations, as companies, businesses, other large organizations and large governance bodies try to cope with the reality of this? Have we consulted with anybody about whether or not virtual decision-making is in any way, shape or form compromised compared to in-person decision-making?