This is the first report for the 2020-21 fiscal year. In this report, information about each committee’s activities and expenditures is presented through a combination of descriptive text and tables containing statistical and financial information. The section for each committee includes a short overview of committee activities, tables on committee expenditures, travel expenditures (if applicable) and statistical information on the number of committee meetings, witnesses and reports. This “Note to Reader” provides contextual information to assist the reader in interpreting the information in each table.

Expenditures

The “Expenditures” table summarizes committee expenditures for the period from April 1, 2020 to August 18, 2020. Committee studies are listed in chronological order. During its meeting of June 5, 2019, the Liaison Committee agreed that, effective from the beginning of the 43rd Parliament, this report be modified to include “Working Meals” and “Hospitality” as two distinct categories of expenditure. In light of this decision, expenditures are now broken down by “Witness Expenses”, “Video Conferences”, “Working Meals”, “Hospitality” and “Other”. “Other” may include expenditures such as reports, professional services, audio-visual equipment and minor miscellaneous expenses. The row “Operational Budget” contains expenditures for which no separate funding request was made in relation to a study or an activity of a committee. Differences in totals are due to rounding.

Travel Expenditures

The “Travel Expenditures” table summarizes committee travel expenditures for the period from April 1, 2020 to August 18, 2020. Given the Liaison Committee decision mentioned above, expenditures are now broken down by “Transportation”, “Accommodation”, “Per Diems”, “Working Meals”, “Hospitality” and “Other”. “Other” may include expenditures such as audio-visual equipment, meeting rooms, excess baggage fees, passport and visa processing, conference fees and other minor miscellaneous expenses. This table is only included for committees that incurred travel expenses in the specified period. If a trip was cancelled, this is noted instead of dates of travel. Expenses for cancelled travel include only those expenses incurred prior to cancellation that could not be reimbursed in kind or made available as credits for future travel, including travel by other committees. Differences in totals are due to rounding.

It should be noted, in relation to travel expenditures, following a decision of the Liaison Committee at its meeting of June 5, 2019, that, should Bill C-58, An Act to amend the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts, be enacted by parliament, detailed travel expenditure reports be prepared and published consistent with the manner provided for in the Bill. Bill C-58 received Royal Assent on June 21, 2019. Detailed travel expenditure reports, broken down by travel activity and by individual or group, when available, will be found at https://www.ourcommons.ca/Committees/en/TravelExpenditures.

Meetings, Witnesses and Reports

The “Meetings, Witnesses and Reports” table contains information about committee meetings, witnesses and reports presented to the House for the period from April 1 to August 18, 2020. In addition to the total number of committee meetings in this period, the table identifies the number of committee meetings that were televised (audio or video of public meetings is available on an archival basis through the committees website), the number of meetings that were webcast, the number of meetings where videoconferencing technology was used to allow the committee to hear from witnesses and the number of meetings video recorded by members of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery. Statistics for the standing committee and, if applicable, each of its subcommittees, are presented in separate rows. In practice, most committees create a subcommittee on agenda and procedure, commonly referred to as a “steering committee”, to help them plan their work. The establishment of subcommittees is usually designed to relieve parliamentary committees of planning and administrative tasks or to address important issues relating to their mandate. Subcommittees are not empowered to report to the House; they only present reports to their standing committee.