THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON AUDIT AND OVERSIGHT

EVIDENCE

OTTAWA, Thursday, March 25, 2021

The Standing Committee on Audit and Oversight met by videoconference this day at 11:30 a.m. [ET] to consider and report on issues relating to the nomination of its external members to the Senate; and, in camera, to consider and report on issues relating to the nomination of its external members to the Senate.

Senator David M. Wells (Chair) in the chair.

[English]

The Chair: Honourable senators, I am David Wells, a senator from Newfoundland and Labrador and chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Audit and Oversight. This meeting is being held in public, via video conference.

I would like to remind all participants that the use of online platforms does not guarantee speech privacy or that eavesdropping won’t be conducted. As such, while conducting committee meetings, all participants should be aware of such limitations and restrict the possible disclosure of sensitive, private and privileged Senate information.

Before we begin, I’d like to remind everyone to keep their microphones muted at all times, unless recognized by name by the chair. Use the “raise hand” feature in order to be recognized. And please avoid switching from one language to the other in the same intervention.

Should any technical challenges arise, please contact the committee clerk or flag it to me.

I would like to introduce the members of the committee who are participating in this meeting: Senator Renée Dupuis, deputy chair, from Quebec; and Senator Percy Downe from Prince Edward Island.

For everyone’s awareness, staff from each committee members’ offices, along with the staff from the Senate Administration, are also participating in this virtual meeting.

Honourable senators, the mandate of this committee is to supervise, provide oversight and report on Senate’s expenses.

As members are aware, the membership of this committee includes two external members to be nominated by this committee, for approval by the Senate. Our current order of reference is precisely to consider issues relating to the nomination of its external members to the Senate, including recommendations on remuneration and permissible expenses, and that the committee present a report to the Senate, as required by the Rules of the Senate.

Today we are continuing our work on this order of reference, starting with the adoption of a budget.

The first item, colleagues, is consideration of a draft budget. Before we go in camera to discuss our future business, we have one item to take care of, and that is the adoption of the draft budget. You have received a copy of this budget already, which was prepared in accordance with our instructions and has been reviewed by the administration. This budget was prepared for the new fiscal year and is identical to the one we adopted in February. There were no expenditures on that budget, but we do expect some expenses in the new fiscal year once we engage the services of a recruitment firm to create a pool of qualified candidates that this committee can recommend to the Senate for appointment as external members of this committee.

Colleagues, you’ll recall that we had budgeted approximately $100,000 for a search exercise, part of which would include retention of a company that does executive searches. We also had a further amount for ancillary expenses related to that. That’s the budget, colleagues, on the table now for us to discuss and decide. Are there any questions regarding that budget, or it being put forward now?

Is it agreed, colleagues, that this special study budget application in the amount of $125,000 for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022, be approved for submission to the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration?

Hon. Senators: Agreed.

The Chair: Agreed. Thank you very much, colleagues. We’ll now go in camera.

(The committee continued in camera.)