Proceedings of the Standing Committee on
Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration
Issue 2 - Evidence for November 26, 2009
OTTAWA, Thursday, November 26, 2009
The Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration met this day at 8:35 a.m. to consider administrative and other matters.
Senator George J. Furey (Chair) in the chair.
[English]
The Chair: Good morning, colleagues. The first item on the agenda is the adoption of the minutes of proceedings of the public portion of the November 5, 2009, meeting. Do I have a motion to adopt?
Senator Downe: I so move.
The Chair: All in favour? Contrary minded?
Carried.
[Translation]
The sixteenth report of the Subcommittee on the Review of Committee Budgets and International Travel.
[English]
Senator Robichaud: That report was presented at the last meeting. If you remember, it had to do with a committee report that the Social Affairs Committee wanted to put out. Your subcommittee recommended that we go ahead with it on a pilot project basis in order to evaluate just how effective this new approach to distributing reports would be and if we could save printing expenses. I made the motion that we go ahead, and I still feel that we should accommodate the committee so they can proceed. We can monitor whatever effect this new way of putting out a report would have, but this is not change in policy; it is a pilot project.
The Chair: We have a motion from Senator Robichaud to adopt the sixteenth report.
Did you have a question, Senator Comeau?
Senator Comeau: I wish to register again that I feel extremely uncomfortable about hiring a graphic designer. Given the economic problems that have hit the country, we send the wrong message when we say that we wish to make our reports glossier and prettier in an effort to possibly attract more attention to them. We should be careful. This proposal would be more appropriate at a different time, when the economy is humming along and we are not asking Canadians for this extra expense. Once we tackle the mounting deficits, then we can ask Canadians. I feel very uncomfortable hiring a graphic designer. Obviously, I will follow the views of the committee, but we should still reconsider this proposal.
The Chair: I take your point, Senator Comeau. We have reconsidered it. This matter has been in front of the committee before.
Senator Comeau: Yes.
The Chair: We sent it away to do exactly what you are saying, for that reason and a few others. The project now is just a pilot project. If it is the committee's wish, we will proceed on a pilot project basis only.
Senator Munson: I agree with you, Mr. Chair. I look at it as the infrastructure necessary to create new ideas and employment. In our own way, we can inject a little stimulus by being more creative in how we proceed.
The Chair: We have a motion by Senator Robichaud to adopt the sixteenth report on a pilot basis. All those in favour? Contrary minded?
Carried.
[Translation]
Shall we move to the eighteenth report now, Senator Robichaud?
Senator Robichaud: Your subcommittee considered a request from the Committee on Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources for a budget of $152,475 for its special study on the energy sector. I believe that you have a copy of the report before you.
The budget includes $2,500 for a sole source contract for a communications consultant, as well as $2,500 for a sole source contract for editing and revising services.
The largest budget item is for fact-finding and public hearings in Vancouver, with an initial request for $108,575. However, the committee requested that $1,500 be transferred from hospitality within the general expenses category to the activity envelope for this trip, thereby increasing it to $110,075.
This transfer would not increase the total budget request.
[English]
The committee also requested $34,150 to enable members and committee staff to attend the Globe 2010 Conference in Vancouver at the end of the trip. While the committee has already been granted nearly $20,000 for conferences in the budget for its special study on emerging issues, it has already committed the bulk of those funds.
While your subcommittee has set $20,000 as the maximum amount normally to be allocated to any one committee for conferences, in this case, the chair, Senator Angus, made a compelling case for increased funding since the Globe 2010 Conference relates directly to the committee's mandate and members will already be in Vancouver.
Due to several clawbacks following the completion of activities, there are sufficient funds remaining in the budget envelope for committees to fund this submission.
I therefore, Mr. Chair, move the adoption of this report.
The Chair: Questions, colleagues? All those in favour? Contrary minded?
Carried.
Thank you, Senator Robichaud.
(The committee continued in camera.)
(The committee resumed in public.)
The Chair: I want to take a moment, honourable senators, to thank our dear colleague and friend the Honourable Senator Marcel Prud'homme for his many years of work and dedication, particularly to this committee. As we all know, he has had a long history serving Canada. First elected to the House of Commons in 1964 for the Quebec riding of Saint-Denis, he was subsequently re-elected eight times and went on to serve 29 years in the House of Commons. He became a member of the Queen's Privy Council in 1992, in honour of his long service as a parliamentarian. Little did they know that Marcel was only in mid-career. He then found a new home in the Senate in 1993 and has become a well- loved, affectionate and admired colleague of ours. He is a man of many passions and a man of peace.
As the members of this committee have gathered from his interventions around the table and in the chamber, interparliamentary diplomacy is a matter very close to Senator Prud'homme's heart. I noted that very thing at the last meeting of the Joint Interparliamentary Council, which he attended. He co-authored a blueprint for today's International and Interparliamentary Affairs Directorate, the Prud'homme-Strahl report, and continues to be a keen observer and adviser on matters related to the Joint Interparliamentary Council. His institutional memory and good graces have always helped us in many areas in this regard.
Marcel has been a member of the Internal Economy Committee through four parliamentary sessions. He is also a regular attendee, even when he is not obliged to be here. This speaks of his unfailing interest in the good governance of this institution we call the Senate. We have all profited from his wisdom, from his time on the Hill and, sometimes, his cautionary comments about the grass appearing to look greener in other places.
Honourable senators, this is Marcel's last Internal Economy Committee meeting, and while we should rightly be celebrating his many achievements, I cannot help feeling that this is also a sad day for me personally, for the committee and for the Senate as a whole.
Marcel, you have broken the mould. You have become an institution in your own right, and it will be very difficult to replace you, if indeed you can ever be replaced. You have always shown yourself to be a proud Canadian and a proud Quebecer. You have generously given yourself to the country, to Parliament and to this committee. I cannot thank you enough for all you have done. The Senate, the Hill and the country are better because of you, and we in the Senate will not be the same without you.
On behalf of the committee, Marcel, please accept my sincere gratitude and that of my colleagues around the table. I know you also hold a special place in the hearts of the employees of the Senate, whom you have always treated with the greatest of respect and kindness.
May the next chapter of your life be as interesting and fulfilling as the last, and may you enjoy good health, happiness and the warmth of the many friendships you have made and cultivated over your many years here on the Hill.
Good-bye, my friend.
Hon. Senators: Hear, hear!
(The committee continued in camera.)