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Board of Internal Economy meeting

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Meeting Minutes

Thursday, December 6, 2018

A meeting of the Board of Internal Economy of the House of Commons was held on Thursday, December 6, 2018, at 10:33 a.m., in Room 237-C, Centre Block.

In the Chair: The Honourable Geoff Regan, Speaker of the House of Commons

Present: The Honourables Bardish Chagger, Mark Holland and Candice Bergen; Mr. Mark Strahl; Ms. Ruth Ellen Brosseau

Secretary to the Board: Charles Robert, Clerk of the House of Commons

Also Present: Bruce Stanton, M.P., Co-Chair, Joint Interparliamentary Council; Michel Patrice, Deputy Clerk, Administration; Philippe Dufresne, Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel; Colette Labrecque-Riel, Clerk Assistant and Director General, International and Interparliamentary Affairs; Daniel Paquette, Chief Financial Officer; José Fernandez, Deputy Chief Financial Officer; Benoit Giroux, Chief Operations Officer, Parliamentary Precinct Operations; Elaine Valiquette, Senior Director, Financial Planning, Resource Management and Corporate Policies; Guillaume La Perrière Marcoux, Secretariat

Minutes of Previous Meeting

The minutes of the meeting of November 29, 2018, were adopted and approved for tabling.


Business Arising from Previous Meetings

The Board noted correspondence distributed since its last meeting.


JOINT INTERPARLIAMENTARY COUNCIL

Report from the Joint Interparliamentary Council on the Governance of Parliamentary Associations

Bruce Stanton presented the following resolution adopted by the Joint Interparliamentary Council and answered questions:


That, notwithstanding any provision in association constitutions or usual practice, effective upon the adoption of this motion, when a matter relating to the confidence in the Chair of an Association arises at an association general meeting, the following procedure shall apply:

a. One of the JIC Co-Chairs shall preside over the meeting during the consideration of the matter;

b. Ten (10) percent of the membership but no less than ten (10) members of the association may appeal a decision of the general assembly relating to the confidence in the Chair to the Joint Interparliamentary Council, by notifying the Clerk of the Council in writing within ten (10) sitting days following the meeting of the general assembly; and such notice shall cite which provision of the association’s constitution has been breached;

c. The Council shall meet to consider the appeal within 15 sittings days following the receipt of this notice;

d. The general assembly’s decision which is subject to the appeal will take effect unless the JIC co-chairs, upon receipt of the notice of appeal, instruct that it be suspended until the appeal is resolved definitively by the JIC; and

That all associations be informed of this procedure.

Parliamentary Conferences

Bruce Stanton and Colette Labrecque-Riel answered questions about the 65th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference to be held in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in January 2021.


The Board granted approval to host this Conference in Halifax in January 2021, with funding as follows: $110,115 from annual surpluses of Associations and Exchanges for fiscal year 2019–2020 and $609,956 in additional temporary funding for fiscal year 2020–2021, for a total of $720,071 that would be shared using the usual formula (30% Senate, 70% House of Commons) between the Senate ($216,020) and the House of Commons ($504,052).

The Board also granted approval to host the 29th Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Vancouver, British Columbia, in July 2020 with funding as follows: $176,595 from annual surpluses of Associations and Exchanges for fiscal year 2019–2020 and $1,394,387 in additional temporary funding for fiscal year 2020–2021, for a total of $1,570,982 that would be shared using the usual formula (30% Senate, 70% House of Commons) between the Senate ($471,293) and the House of Commons ($1,099,690).


SERVICES TO MEMBERS – OFFICE SUPPLIES AND STATIONERY

Daniel Paquette presented the proposal to amend certain policies in the Members’ Allowances and Services Manual relating to the procurement process for office supplies and stationery. He and Benoit Giroux answered questions.


The Board approved the following, effective following the next general election:

1. Amend the current policy to:

a. apply all multi-functional device copying charges for parliamentary offices against the Member’s Office Budget (MOB);

b. remove applicable limits for paper, envelopes, letterhead and wish cards;

c. provide parliamentary offices with a reasonable quantity of paper and standard personalized franked envelopes (letter and legal formats), as a charge against the House Administration central budget;

d. provide for the cost of non-standard sized envelopes for parliamentary offices to be charged to the MOB;

e. provide for the cost of paper and envelopes for constituency offices to be charged to the MOB;

f. offer Members an electronic letterhead template to facilitate office correspondence and continue to provide them with reasonable on-demand printing of hard-copy letterhead as a charge against the House Administration central budget;

g. offer reasonable on-demand printing of wish cards with envelopes as a charge against the House Administration central budget; and

h. charge all costs associated with the purchase of office supplies to the MOB.


FINANCIAL MATTERS

Proposed 2019–2020 Interim and Main Estimates

Daniel Paquette presented the proposed 2019–2020 Interim and Main Estimates and answered questions.


The Board approved the proposed 2019–2020 Main Estimates for the House of Commons in the amount of $503.4M, as well as the Interim Estimates in the amount of $87.5M.

2018–2019 Second Quarter Financial Report

Daniel Paquette presented the House of Commons’ financial results for the second quarter of 2018–2019 (as at September 30, 2018), along with comparative information relating to the second quarter of the previous fiscal year.


MODERNIZATION OF MEMBERS’ POLICIES

Daniel Paquette and José Fernandez provided the Board with an update on requests made by Members representing large and remote constituencies and presented a proposal to amend parts of the travel policies in the Members’ Allowances and Services Manual, and to amend the By-laws accordingly.


The Board approved the following, effective April 1, 2019:

1. Amend the travel policy to allow Members to:

a. charge, whether the Member is in travel status or not, and upon written justification from the Member, accommodation and per diem expenses under the Travel Points System if they are incurred the day before or after a regular trip under special circumstances for the safety and well-being of the Member in relation to a particular trip;

b. when they are in travel status, claim accommodation expenses for up to seven consecutive nights in each location;

c. when they are in travel status, be reimbursed at a reasonable rate for non-commercial accommodations when commercial accommodations are non-existent, and receipts are provided; and

d. be eligible for the portion of the per diem allowance for meals when travelling within the constituency, other than commuting, and at a distance of more than 16 km from their primary or secondary residence that is in or near their constituency.

2. Amend the asset policy to allow the Chief Financial Officer, in consultation with the Chief Information Officer , to review, assess and provide for the purchase of satellite phones, supported by a written justification from the Member as an eligible expense to the House Administration central budget.

• Decisions in this regard will be made by applying the guiding principles approved by the Board on December 7, 2017 for the management of assets, which include factors such as regional or special circumstances within a Member’s constituency; and

• Costs of monthly voice and data plans, air time (including roaming), and long-distance calls, as well as the cost of standard accessories to be charged to the MOB.

3. Amend the Governance and Administration By-law and the Members By-law accordingly; amendments to take effect April 1, 2019.


At 11:26 a.m., the meeting was suspended.
At 11:30 a.m., the meeting resumed in camera.

LABOUR RELATIONS AND RATIFICATION OF A COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT

The Board agreed, in accordance with past practice regarding a working day that falls between two days off, to provide employees of the House of Commons Administration with a paid day off on Monday, December 24 and Monday December 31, 2018.


The Board ratified the agreement in principle reached between the House of Commons and the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada for the Procedural Clerks and Analysis and Reference bargaining unit.


LEGAL MATTERS

The Board discussed a legal matter pertaining to the House of Commons Policy on Preventing and Addressing Harassment.


The Board reviewed the recent advisory opinion published by the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, Mario Dion, with respect to the provision of intern services to Members of Parliament free of charge. The Board agreed to bring this advisory opinion to the attention of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs so that the Committee may consider the possibility of studying this subject as part of its ongoing mandate to review and report on all matters relating to the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons.

The meeting was adjourned.

Charles Robert
Secretary to the Board of Internal Economy