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Board of Internal Economy meeting

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Meeting Minutes

Thursday, November 17, 2022

A meeting of the Board of Internal Economy of the House of Commons was held on Thursday, November 17, 2022, at 11:04 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; Scott Lemoine, Principal Clerk, Committees and Legislative Services Directorate; Stéphan Aubé, Chief Information Officer; Guillaume La Perrière, Director, Accessibility Implementation; Paul St George, Chief Financial Officer; José Fernandez, Deputy Chief Financial Officer; Pat McDonell, Sergeant-at-Arms; Lynne Frappier, Project Manager, Business Management and Policy; Paul Mellon, Chief of Operations, Corporate Security; and Michelle Tittley, Secretariat

MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING

The minutes of the meeting of November 3, 2022, were approved for tabling.


BUSINESS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MEETINGS

The Board took note of correspondence distributed since its last meeting. Ian McDonald, Clerk Assistant, Committees and Legislative Services Directorate, Scott Lemoine, Principal Clerk, Committees and Legislative Services Directorate, and Stéphan Aubé, Chief Information Officer, answered questions on resource capacity to support interpretation during parliamentary activities.


ACCESSIBILTY PLAN 2023–2025

Guillaume La Perrière, Director, Accessibility Implementation, presented a submission to seek approval of the proposed House of Commons’ Accessibility Plan 2023–2025, including permanent funding for the establishment of an Accessibility Secretariat and temporary funding for full-time resources to complete the initiatives identified in the accessibility plan, and answered questions.

The Board approved:

a) the proposed accessibility plan to be published on December 1, 2022; and

b) permanent funding for the establishment of an Accessibility Secretariat to oversee and implement the House’s accessibility plan and ensure compliance with the Act and Regulations, and temporary funding for full-time resources to complete the initiatives identified in the first year of the plan and to begin implementing the initiatives to be completed in the second and third years (2024 and 2025), for a total funding requirement, including employee benefit plans (EBPs), of:

• 81,248 for 2022-2023 as of January 1, 2023;

• $850,287 for 2023-2024; and

• $325,448 for 2024-2025 and subsequent years.


REQUEST FOR EXCEPTION

The Board approved a Member’s request for exception to the Members By-law to allow the reimbursement of seven advertising expenses in the amount to $2,237.50, incurred in fiscal years 2018-2019, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, as a charge against the 2022-2023 Member’s Office Budget.


At 12:01 p.m., the meeting was suspended.

At 12:06 p.m., the meeting resumed in camera.


SECURITY MATTERS

The Board approved permanent funding to enhance security support for Members. This funding consists of a one-time amount of $201,688 and a yearly amount of $788,353.

The Board also approved the implementation and funding of a pilot program for the provision of security services to Members when they host events related to their parliamentary duties outside the parliamentary precinct. The program was approved for 27 months, beginning on January 1, 2023, and the breakdown of the approved funding is as follows:

• security costs up to $600 per event can be charged to the Member’s Office Budget and any costs in excess of that amount can be charged to the House of Commons’ central budget;

• temporary funding, excluding EBPs, consisting of:

o $157,765 in fiscal year 2022-2023 (partial year);

o $595,060 in fiscal year 2023-2024 (full year); and

o $595,060 in fiscal year 2024-2025 (full year).

Should there be significant changes to the estimated costs, the Administration will return to the Board at the end of the fiscal year to adjust the funding request. The Board requested that a status report on the uptake of services be presented in October 2023.

The Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms and Corporate Security was asked to return to the Board’s next meeting to provide additional recommendations for the off-precinct security pilot program.


The meeting was adjourned at 12:59 p.m.

Charles Robert
Secretary to the Board of Internal Economy