Procedure and House Affairs committee  I could get back to the committee on the pay level. I'm not sure. They would not be at a deputy head level. The commissioner is in that type of role. They would likely be an executive, somewhere between EX-02 and EX-04.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't have that level of information. This is a good opportunity to remind the committee that they are independent, so we don't get overly involved in their HR or their finance. We just make sure their bills are paid and they have HR support, but we don't really get into that

Procedure and House Affairs committee  They will be hired as per diem appointees under professional services.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I can confirm that for lobbying they have the same obligations for reporting that any department does. They're set up as a separate department, so they have full reporting obligations, like any other deputy head across the government.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'll handle that. I would maybe just take you back to when that $5.5-million figure was come up with.... That was a best estimate, and that was an “up to” amount. I think the debates commissioner has made it clear that his goal is to actually live below that budget. Any interact

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Well, maybe I can just touch really quickly on the accountability. I've heard mention a couple of times of accountability and detailed budget plans. I just want to be clear that the debates commission, like any department, will have to come forward with a departmental plan, which

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It is a set amount, approved by Parliament. If the debates commissioner were to run into a wall—and they've given no indication—there would be a process as with any department, whereby the debates commissioner would put in a funding request to the minister and it would go from th

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Absolutely. I'll finish what I started to say earlier. The reason I was mentioning the departmental plan and main estimates is that when they're tabled, this committee has the opportunity to call the debates commissioner. Unlike PCO, where we're limited in what we can say, he cou

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Similar to the last time we appeared, I'd underscore the fact that they're arm's length. We provide support to the debates commissioner as needed, from a corporate perspective. As far as them getting along, we're helping them to get contracts in place. They have an RFP out righ

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Can I just jump in? You talk about Minister Gould's department, but we are here as PCO. It's important to note that unlike a commission of inquiry, for example, which is supported by PCO, although at arm's length, this is actually a separate entity, with its own estimates and wi

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We did our best analysis at the time that we did the funding proposal. We did err on the side of putting in more money. We put money in for professional services, knowing that they would want to have some type of contract in place to run the debates. They would need communication

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The main reason is that the debates commissioner, from day one, made clear to me that he wanted to spend as little money as possible, to be as efficient as possible. We looked at existing space, existing material. He asked for very few changes to the office to try to make it as c

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Absolutely. There is a cost for personnel; please don't misunderstand. I'll make it clear that the debates commissioner himself is being paid but is donating that money to charity. There was no way for him to just not be paid, because of the type of position he's in. There are ot

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Just to clarify, it's a separate organization within the government, so they're all technically government employees from that perspective. The majority of them are there on short-term contracts or term employment arrangements. I believe that one they've hired is on secondment fr

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't have the exact date, but it will be post-election, obviously.