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Meeting Minutes

Thursday, September 29, 2022

A meeting of the Board of Internal Economy of the House of Commons was held on Thursday, September 29, 2022, at 11:06 a.m., in Room 225-A, West Block.

In the Chair: The Honourable Anthony Rota, Speaker of the House of Commons

Present: The Honourables Mark Holland, Steven MacKinnon, Andrew Scheer and Kerry-Lynne Findlay; Ms. Ruby Sahota, Ms. Claude DeBellefeuille, and Mr. Peter Julian

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

Also Present: Michel Patrice, Deputy Clerk, Administration; Michel Bédard, Interim Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel; Eric Janse, Deputy Clerk, Procedure; Ian McDonald, Clerk Assistant, Committees and Legislative Services Directorate; Paul St George, Chief Financial Officer; José Fernandez, Deputy Chief Financial Officer; Andrew Newman, Audit Partner and Office Manager, Ottawa, KPMG; Jonathan Généreux, Audit Manager, KPMG; Stéphan Aubé, Chief Information Officer; Pat McDonell, Sergeant-at-Arms; Matthew Ball, Acting President, Services to Parliament and Interpretation Sector, Translation Bureau; Caroline Corneau, Acting Vice-President, Services to Parliament and Interpretation, Translation Bureau; Annie Plouffe, Acting Vice-President, Policy and Corporate Services, Translation Bureau; and Michelle Tittley, Secretariat

NEW MEMBERS OF THE BOARD

Pursuant to section 50(5) of the Parliament of Canada Act, the Hon. Andrew Scheer (September 21, 2022) and the Hon. Kerry-Lynne Findlay (September 22, 2022) were recently sworn in as members of the Board.


APPOINTMENT OF BOARD SPOKESPERSON

Pursuant to Standing Order 37(2), the Hon. Kerry-Lynne Findlay was appointed to act as spokesperson for the Board, replacing Mr. Blaine Calkins.


MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETINGS

The minutes of the meeting of June 23, 2022, were approved for tabling.


BUSINESS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS

The Board took note of correspondence distributed since its last meeting.

Board members discussed a report about the communication of security alerts at the House of Commons. It was confirmed that a protocol has been put in place to ensure that in all situations, the alerts from the Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be sent in both official languages simultaneously.

The Board discussed and took note of the virtual committees dashboard and the audio system performance evaluation. Ian McDonald, Clerk Assistant, and Stéphan Aubé, Chief Information Officer, answered questions.


RECORD OF DECISIONS SINCE THE LAST MEETING

On September 14, 2022, the Board agreed to designate Monday, September 19, 2022, as a paid holiday for the mourning and commemoration for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, for regular and short-term employees of Members and for employees of the House of Commons Administration.


2021-2022 AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Paul St George, Chief Financial Officer, and José Fernandez, Deputy Chief Financial Officer, presented the 2021–2022 audited financial statements. Andrew Newman, Audit Partner, KPMG, and Jonathan Généreux, Audit Manager, KPMG, presented the House of Commons Audit Findings Report for the year ended March 31, 2022, and answered questions.

The Board agreed to proceed in camera, without the participation of House Administration officials, to allow its members to discuss the audited financial statements and address any questions or concerns from the auditor and members.


At 11:39 p.m., the meeting was suspended.

At 11:40 p.m., the meeting resumed in camera.


PERFORMANCE AWARDS FOR MEMBERS’ EMPLOYEES

Following their decisions on the maximum annual salary for Members’ employees at the June 16 meeting, the Board approved that, exceptionally for the current year, Members may, at their discretion, grant a maximum of two annual performance awards, with a combined annual total of 10% to their employees. Exceptionally for this year, performance awards requests can be submitted between September 30, 2022 to March 31, 2023.


PROVIDING REMOTE SIMULTANEOUS INTERPRETATION AND USING THIRD-PARTY INTERPRETATION SERVICES TO SUPPORT PARLIAMENTARY ACTIVITIES

The Board reviewed and discussed an interim assessment on the use of external and remote interpretation services following a 6-month pilot project that was approved at its May 19, 2022 meeting.


The Board agreed that:

1) the necessary steps be taken to operationalize a remote simultaneous interpretation service offering in collaboration with the Translation Bureau, confirm the availability of remote interpreters and equip them, configure meeting rooms so that they support remote simultaneous interpretation, and train multimedia services personnel on how to support events with remote simultaneous interpretation;

2) testing and refinement of the technical solution and operational processes continue as soon as possible by making remote simultaneous interpretation available to a limited number of non-Chamber, non-committee events (e.g. association and regional caucus events), where there are opportunities to use the service with low risk to clients;

3) events using the new remote interpretation system be supported by remote freelance interpreters accredited and provided by the Translation Bureau;

4) the Administration work with the Translation Bureau on obtaining “Site Access” House of Commons security clearance for the Translation Bureau’s accredited interpreters assigned to parliamentary events, with the understanding that the Translation Bureau will continue to assign interpreters with secret clearance to national caucus meetings;

5) the House not pursue its assessment of potential third-party service providers at this time, pending further assessment of the remote simultaneous interpretation system in collaboration with the Translation Bureau and its accredited freelance interpreters; and

6) in November 2022, the Administration provide the Board with a report on a proposed schedule and capacity increase for additional events in January 2023 in relation to the proposed remote simultaneous interpretation solution.


The Board requested that the Translation Bureau provide additional information for its consideration.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:50 p.m.

Charles Robert
Secretary to the Board of Internal Economy