Evidence of meeting #31 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was hybrid.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Chris Bittle
Thank you so much.
We will now go to Mr. Jackson, please, for five minutes.
Conservative
Grant Jackson Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
Thank you, Mr. Speaker and your team, for being here.
I want to follow up on some of the questions about interpretation in hybrid Parliament. I'm new here, so I was not familiar with the old system that members dealt with prior to the pandemic.
I'm just curious. We see it used often in committee, particularly for witnesses. I come from rural Manitoba, and if I have a witness appearing from there at a committee, it's very difficult and expensive for them to get to Ottawa, so I see the benefit of that.
I'm wondering if there is a method by which we could keep it for committees but not for the chamber. Has there been an investigation into the feasibility around that?
Jeffrey LeBlanc Deputy Clerk, Procedure, House of Commons
Mr. Jackson, of course the decision will ultimately be left to members as to what they would like to use. There are costs associated with the chamber. That is clear.
The main use of the system in the chamber today is for the voting application. There are very few members who participate virtually in order to give speeches, for example. There are some, but not very many. The main value, I think, is in the event that there's a failure with the voting system. Then members have an opportunity to participate by video conference and have their vote count.
Is there an alternative means to accomplish that? If members wanted to say that there was no longer a desire to have hybrid participation in the chamber, could we come up with an alternative? We probably could, and there would probably be savings associated with that.
Conservative
Grant Jackson Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
Thank you for that. I appreciate that very clear answer.
Just to be clear, the voting application itself is not reliant on there being a virtual option for the chamber. It's just the backstop.
Deputy Clerk, Procedure, House of Commons
That's correct. If the voting application fails, then the backstop is the video conference.
Conservative
Grant Jackson Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
Okay. I appreciate that very much.
Do you have a rough costing of what we might save if the Zoom portion of the hybrid Parliament went away for the chamber only?
Deputy Clerk, Procedure, House of Commons
Our calculation is that for the chamber, it's about $1.2 million.
Conservative
Grant Jackson Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
Thank you very much.
Again, help me because I'm new. Is this a decision that's made by the Board of Internal Economy?
Deputy Clerk, Procedure, House of Commons
The decision to adopt hybrid proceedings was a decision of the House. There was a motion passed in the House to make the option of video conferencing participation available to members.
Conservative
Grant Jackson Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
Then to remove a portion of it would also have to go through a motion of the House, not the board.
Conservative
Conservative
Grant Jackson Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
That's great.
Mr. Monette, when you were here last time, there were some discussions about resources that your team was looking at with regard to drones and the parliamentary precinct. Has there been any further discussion on resources that your team needs to assess and deal with a drone that would potentially be here for illicit purposes, and what has transpired with that discussion since you were here last?
Director, Parliamentary Protective Service
The drone program is a sensitive topic, but I can tell you that we've evolved in terms of developing our program from discussions with our partners.
The subject matter experts on drones and counter-drones are the RCMP. They have a team and maintain a team. We are now at the point of evaluating and studying how we can work with those partners, all of our partners, on a counter-drone program.
At the NCRSSC, the National Capital Region Strategic Security Council, a council of the chiefs of police and directors of the law enforcement intel committee, which I sit on, we've recently launched a working group to look at how we can better approach this program. We do have some technology now that's in place.
In terms of resources, none are required. We're evaluating and developing that program from within. However, going forward, and as we determine the direction of our program, we may have to come forward for additional resources. For now, things are progressing well.
Conservative
Grant Jackson Conservative Brandon—Souris, MB
Just to be clear, you're comfortable with where things are in the development of the program.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Chris Bittle
Thank you so much.
We'll now go to Ms. Fancy, please.
I should have pointed this out. Welcome to Ms. Fancy and Ms. Vandenbeld as our new members.
Please go ahead.
Liberal
Jessica Fancy-Landry Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
Thank you very much.
I am a new member of this committee, and I'm also one of the first-year members, similar to what Mr. Jackson was just talking about as a newer member. The only difference is that I'm a female, and one of the first things I saw when I walked in here today was an all-male panel sitting for the House of Commons from within the government and...sitting with the Conservatives, and all of the male staffers here. A couple of my questions are with regard to representation, because it matters. Some of them will be tied into security, and then I have a couple of things at the end.
As a female in my riding, for a couple of weeks I've been in the midst of a stalking case with a gentleman from my riding. I've had to cancel all of my previously advertised public events.
The Sergeant-at-Arms' office has been absolutely wonderful and phenomenal to work with, but currently, when I'm in my constituency, I have to be walked to and from my car by staff. I also have to have a lot of increased security throughout my house and constituency. Because I live in a rural riding, I have three constituency offices, which ups that level of security. It's kind of like, “Where's Jessica today?”
My question specifically is this: Are you seeing any specific trends of women in elected office being targeted? I ask because this is happening only because of my capacity as an elected official. How does it differ from what happens with male MPs?
Senior Officer, Risk Management and Investigations, Corporate Security Operations, House of Commons
If you're asking if there are specific trends, we will endeavour to do a further analysis of that. We do know that the threatening behaviour towards female MPs is different from the behaviour that targets male members. That is obvious.
The misogynistic behaviour online towards female members is very obvious. However, if it's getting worse, we will make an assessment of that, and I can get back to you on exactly where we're at with that.
The threatening behaviour toward female and male members is markedly different.
Liberal
Jessica Fancy-Landry Liberal South Shore—St. Margarets, NS
I really encourage you to take that on, and to look for a GBA+ analysis. I know my colleague mentioned that earlier, and you said you currently don't have that as one of your key statistical analysis characteristics, I'm assuming. If you guys could do that, it would be very helpful. I say that because we learned in our last election that numerous women from all parties either didn't run or didn't re-offer to run, so I would really recommend that.
Further on the theme of new members and dealing with harassment in the precinct, in constituencies or in home offices, have there been any changes in the number of complaints or concerns?
Senior Officer, Risk Management and Investigations, Corporate Security Operations, House of Commons
Can you repeat that question?