Evidence of meeting #31 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 results.
A video is available from Parliament.
Committee Researcher
Madam Chair, I think the clerk might be in a better position to speak about the specifics of their protocol and what they're required to....
The Clerk of the Committee Ms. Angela Crandall
Well, the motion the committee adopted is that the departments provide an action plan before they appear before the committee. I think the action plan has been left to the interpretation of the department, but it usually follows that kind of plan where there are varied dates. It's not a final plan. It's just an outline of how the department will go forward. If what I'm hearing the committee say is they want this, perhaps you could agree to some kind of motion whereby we would make a second request to the department for that.
Conservative
Philip Lawrence Conservative Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON
I'm happy to move the said motion.
Conservative
Committee Researcher
Madam Chair, to maybe support the committee's wish, given that the DM has said that they're still in the process.... We want to respect that this will be a surprise. However, they were required to provide it to us 48 hours prior to today's meeting, per the motion. I wanted to start with a discussion point, if the committee would agree. Today's date is the 11th. I believe another member raised the idea of the end of the month. I think that would be a very reasonable time for them to give a snapshot of what they plan on doing. It would be a very reasonable date. It was suggested by a member, and I support that.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly Block
Thank you.
That's a friendly amendment to Mr. Lawrence's motion.
Are we in agreement, colleagues? I see nods and thumbs-up.
(Motion agreed to [See Minutes of Proceedings])
Thank you very much. That motion will pass, and we will draft a communication to the department, letting them know that this motion has been passed.
Lastly, colleagues, for our meeting on Thursday, if you will recall, we had a conversation. There was a request to have us lengthen the meeting by an hour due to the briefing that we are going to receive, as well as the two reports that we wanted to get through. Our clerk has heard from our multimedia services that they are stretched to the limit and that it looks like we would only be able to lengthen it by half an hour, if that.
Angela, do you have an update for us on that?
The Clerk
I'm sorry. I haven't received confirmation that we can extend it. I did make a request for today and was told that it would not be possible. I'm waiting to hear for Thursday, but I expect we will get a similar response.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly Block
Thank you. That's just a heads-up, because I know that request has been made.
There's another issue for Thursday's meeting. The law clerk has a conflict with our meeting and one with the BOIE. At first, the law clerk was going to attend our meeting, but now his office is saying that he will be sending Mr. Michel Bédard, deputy law clerk and parliamentary counsel. Do you have any issues with this individual being sent in place of the law clerk for our briefing?
Mr. Fergus.
Liberal
Greg Fergus Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Madam Chair, I don't have a deep problem with it. I wanted to raise an issue, going back to the first problem in terms of the timing. Almost all of us get on the call about 15 minutes before the meeting actually starts, to do our sound check. I'm wondering if perhaps, for this one time only, we might actually start a bit early, and that way we might be able to saw off the difference.
The Clerk
If I might speak, Madam Chair, I think we're going to run into the same issue, because it's a multitude of services that we require at the time of the actual meeting: broadcasting, interpretation and all the other things that go with it. When we're doing the sound checks, we don't have all those services involved. I can make the request, but I'm not sure we'll get approval.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Kelly Block
Thank you, Angela.
Colleagues, as I see no other hands up or concerns in regard to the deputy law clerk attending the briefing on Thursday, is it the will of the committee to adjourn? I'm getting the thumbs-up.
Thank you so much, colleagues. I appreciate your indulgence in answering these questions. Have a great day.