Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, one of the things that's very important to realize is that the investments we make in technology always have to be kept up, in terms of being maintained, but also, as is the nature of technology, they have to be revisited from time to time, so that they can be broug

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In the members' operating budget, last year's increase was....

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I hope my answer will not be helpful to the many people out there who are hoping that I will leave. We do in fact have a succession planning program, but we have no document that would show you how these things are going to happen. I know that my pred

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, I could add that there is a group within the Translation Bureau that works only for Parliament. Mr. Bard, the person in charge of information services, handles liaison with the Translation Bureau.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, Mr. Chairman, one of the things we have worked at very energetically is the whole idea of presenting to employees the most reasonable and accommodating approach in terms of the responsibilities they have vis-à-vis their families. For example, one of the things that's going o

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Are you referring to the technology or to the overall budget?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think it's very difficult to predict where members will be feeling the pressure with regard to their own budgets. I thought you were referring to technology, because in that regard I was going to say that I think the campus-wide infrastructure we've put into place and the fores

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, we could certainly take that under consideration. However, it raises certain difficulties, one of which is the fact that members choose the locations in their ridings and in these areas, it would concern the local police forces. Nevertheless, we could study...

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We could continue this discussion after the meeting.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The employee benefits rate is set by the Treasury Board. It's uniform for the public service. In terms of parity between benefit plans for House employees and public servants, I can assure you that House employees are entitled to the same benefits as pu

Procedure and House Affairs committee  With respect to temporary employees, the question still remains. There is always the possibility of using temporary staff. However, we are currently in the process of looking at which temporary jobs should be formalized. For example, for jobs where the work is mainly carried out

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, I will continue the answer I began to give to Mr. Proulx last week in answer to his question. I am afraid that I am not in a position to give you any good news. The clarifications I will provide will not elicit feelings of great joy, either in you or in part-time wo

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No. I'm sorry; I did not make myself clear. Seasonal workers can work more than 700 hours, something which occurs fairly regularly. So, that does apply to season workers. Only workers who are on call do not work 700 hours.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, I can provide that. As I already stated, that would obviously change the working conditions of people who are on call. I should add that many of them are satisfied with the current regime. They are students or people who, for one reason or another, choose that kind of a wor

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, I consider that to be a compliment, coming from Mr. Guimond. In answer to the first question, I would say that training is given primarily in French, simply because of the number of Francophones and Anglophones in the House. I am also in a position to confirm that