Evidence of meeting #1 for Public Accounts in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was chair.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly Block
Thank you, Madam Clerk.
Are there any further comments?
Mr. Fergus.
Liberal
Greg Fergus Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Again, I think maybe I should turn to our staffers, but I always thought that even in in camera meetings held by phone, there was a slight delay, a seven-second delay or something. I just invented the number, but it's more than just one or two seconds.
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
On a point of order, Madam Chair, I'm sorry to interrupt, but my understanding is that not everybody can hear the discussion we're having right now. The people who are remote are having trouble. This illustrates Mr. Berthold's point that sometimes when you're attending remotely, the audio does not work.
Could the technicians check into that, please?
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Why don't we allow our assistants to participate in the Zoom meeting with a closed camera? They could attend at the same time as us and hear the discussions as we go along so they can give us advice. Our assistants could be instructed to close their cameras. We would only see the people who are normally present at the meeting: the clerk, the analysts, and the MPs. That would be one way to deal with all the problems. We would also be able to see which assistants are present, in the same way that we can normally see who is attending our meetings when they are in person. If our employees attend the meeting by phone, we can't know that and we have no idea who is attending the meetings.
The Clerk
Unfortunately, I don't have an answer to that, but I'll check.
I know that when we first started using this new format for meetings, the sound quality was not good when there were a lot of participants. I think it's different now.
I don't have a precise answer yet, but I will check and then provide the information to the committee.
Liberal
Greg Fergus Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
I'd like to raise a second point, Madam Chair.
It works very well for my staff, in particular. However, people who work in a whip's or House leader's office participate in meetings by phone [Technical difficulty—Editor].
Conservative
Liberal
Liberal
Greg Fergus Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
I would like to raise the following point.
People who attend meetings from the office of a whip or House leader do not just follow one committee meeting at a time, but two or three, depending on the schedule of the day. You can only attend one meeting at a time when using the Zoom platform. However, when you participate in meetings by phone, you can follow several meetings at the same time.
It may be possible to make changes to our Zoom videoconferencing system so that we can follow more than one meeting at a time, but I don't think that's technically possible at this time.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Mr. Fergus, I wasn't talking about the employees in a whip's office, but about our own assistants, who are supposed to help us during the meetings. They have to be connected with us at the same time. Otherwise, they can't help us do our work as they would if the meetings were in person.
From what I understand, the clerk will check the system's ability to accommodate our assistants. Again, I suggest that our assistants be able to participate in the meeting with a closed camera. That way, we know they are present and that they are participating in the meeting. I'm in agreement to wait for the clerk's response on this.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly Block
Before we go to our clerk, Mr. Longfield, you had raised your hand earlier. Do you have any comments to make?
Liberal
Lloyd Longfield Liberal Guelph, ON
Thanks, Madam Chair. I think it's a great suggestion that Mr. Berthold brings forward. If we were all on the same technology, that would take one of the variables out of it. If it's at all possible, it would be great to be able to accommodate that.
Bloc
Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
Madam Chair, I also raised my hand.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly Block
My apologies, Mr. Blanchette.
My apologies, Madam Clerk.
Mr. Blanchette.
Bloc
Maxime Blanchette-Joncas Bloc Rimouski-Neigette—Témiscouata—Les Basques, QC
I just wanted to pass on to my colleagues some information that could be useful to them. Normally, the senior clerk should give us an answer next week about the attendance of our assistants at committee meetings held using Zoom. We are awaiting confirmation. The clerk could confirm that.
The Clerk
Thank you, Mr. Blanchette-Joncas.
That's exactly what I want to know. I will confirm this with the committees directorate.
Conservative