THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON INTERNAL ECONOMY, BUDGETS AND ADMINISTRATION
EVIDENCE
OTTAWA, Thursday, October 22, 2020
The Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration met by videoconference this day at 11:00 a.m. [ET], pursuant to rule 12-7(1), to consider financial and administrative matters; and, in camera, pursuant to rule 12-7(1), to consider financial and administrative matters.
Senator Sabi Marwah (Chair) in the chair.
[English]
The Chair: Good morning, senators. My name is Sabi Marwah, I’m a senator from Ontario and I have the privilege to chair the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration. Today, we will be conducting a virtual meeting that will start in public and the second portion will be in camera.
Before we begin, I would like to remind colleagues of the best practices to have a successful meeting. Please keep your microphone muted at all times unless recognized by name to speak. Senators are responsible for turning their microphones on and off during the debate.
When speaking, you have the choice at the bottom of your screen of English, French or no simultaneous translation. It is important that members speak in the language they have chosen to listen to. If you make an intervention in English, you must select the English channel. If you plan to alternate from one language to another, you will also need to switch the interpretation channel.
Should members wish to request the floor, please use the raise hand feature. Should any technical or other challenges arise, please contact the committee clerk using the assistance number provided in your invitation.
I would now like to introduce the senators who are participating in this meeting: Senator Claude Carignan, Quebec; Senator Tony Dean, Ontario; Senator Percy Downe, Prince Edward Island; Senator Renée Dupuis, Quebec; Senator Éric Forest, Quebec; Senator Raymonde Gagné, Manitoba; Senator Mobina Jaffer, British Columbia; Senator Elizabeth Marshall, Newfoundland and Labrador; Senator Yonah Martin, British Columbia; Senator Marilou McPhedran, Manitoba; Senator Lucie Moncion, Ontario; Senator Jim Munson, Ontario; Senator Josée Forest-Niesing, Ontario; Senator Kim Pate, Ontario; Senator Don Plett, Manitoba; Senator Raymonde Saint-Germain, Quebec; Senator Judith Seidman, Quebec; and Senator Scott Tannas, Alberta.
Welcome to all those viewing these proceedings across the country.
Honourable senators, the first item of business is the approval of the public minutes from October 8, 2020, which is in your package. Are there any questions or changes? I see no hands up. Could I have a mover from the following motion:
That the minutes of the proceedings of Thursday, October 8, 2020, be adopted.
Senator Marshall: I so move.
The Chair: Senator Marshall moves the motion. Honourable senators, in order to determine if this motion is adopted, the clerk will proceed with a roll-call vote. I would ask every senator to unmute their microphone once their name is called.
Pascale Legault, Chief Corporate Services Officer and Clerk of the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration, Senate of Canada: Honourable senators, I will call the members’ names, beginning with the chair and going in alphabetical order. Senators should indicate if they vote for, against or abstain. As simultaneous interpretation will be suspended for the vote, I will conduct the vote in both official languages.
The Honourable Senator Marwah?
Senator Marwah: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Carignan?
Senator Carignan: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Dean?
Senator Dean: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Downe?
Senator Downe: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Dupuis?
Senator Dupuis: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Forest?
Senator Forest: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Forest-Niesing?
Senator Forest-Niesing: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Gagné?
Senator Gagné: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Jaffer?
Senator Jaffer: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Marshall?
Senator Marshall: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Martin?
Senator Martin: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Moncion?
Senator Moncion: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Munson?
Senator Munson: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Plett?
Senator Plett: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Saint-Germain?
Senator Saint-Germain: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Seidman?
Senator Seidman: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Tannas?
Senator Tannas: Yes.
Ms. Legault: Mr. Chair, we have 17 “yes” votes.
The Chair: Thank you. I declare the motion carried.
The next item is the fourth report from the Audit Subcommittee, which deals with the annual financial statements of the Senate of Canada. Joining us as witnesses are, from Senate Administration, Pierre Lanctôt, Chief Financial Officer; and Nathalie Charpentier, Comptroller and Deputy Chief Financial Officer. From Ernst & Young, we have our auditors, Suzie Gignac, Engagement Quality Review Partner; and Niguel Givogue, Manager Assurance Services.
It is my understanding that Senator Downe, who is the chair of the Audit Subcommittee, will speak first, followed by a presentation from Pierre Lanctôt and the representatives from Ernst & Young.
Senator Downe: Colleagues, your Audit Subcommittee, which also consists of Senators McPhedran, Marshall and Dupuis, is pleased to recommend their approval of the audited financial statement for the year ended March 31, 2020, which has received a clear audit opinion. Your subcommittee also reviewed three related documents: the financial statement, the narrative that provides a highlight from the statements and the audit finding report from the external auditor.
I wish to point out that the management responsibility statement, vis-à-vis the financial statement, clearly expressed that the integrity and objectivity of the information rest with the Senate Administration management and that the statements have been prepared in accordance with the Canadian public sector accounting standards. The statements outline the financial positions of the Senate as of March 31, 2020, its financial operation for the fiscal year, a summary of changes in the statement of net financial position and net debt, and how the cash received from the Consolidated Revenue Fund was used by the Senate. The documents also include notes to describe and provide further details on the financial statement.
A second document, referred to as the financial highlights, provides explanations of the financial statements and the notes disclosure. Analysis of significant variance with budget and prior years’ expenses were also provided.
The auditors conducted the audit in accordance with their audit plan. They did not identify any control deficiencies. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the external auditors for their work, as well as for the staff of the Senate who worked many hours on this as well.
Chair, you already indicated who’s available to answer any questions, and obviously all this information I’m referring to was in the package that colleagues received prior to this meeting. Thank you.
The Chair: Mr. Lanctôt, do you have any comments to add?
Pierre Lanctôt, Chief Financial Officer, Finance and Procurement Directorate, Senate of Canada: Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair and Senator Downe.
I’m pleased to be here today to provide the highlights of the Senate’s results for the fiscal year 2019-20 and the financial position as of March 31, 2020. I will begin by discussing new information contained in the financial statements.
The statement of financial position now includes a liability for sick leave benefits. In previous years, the Senate did not include this liability in its financial statements, but we determined that it would be appropriate to recognize this liability in the financial statements to better align with the disclosure practices of other public sector organizations in compliance with the public sector accounting standards.
The second change is in the statement of financial position. It is the rearrangement of the orders of the disclosure requirements in accordance with the public sector accounting standards. The first part presents the financial assets and liabilities, and the net difference between them. The second part of the statement presents the Senate net financial assets and net financial position.
Finally, note 13 was added to point out the uncertainty created by the pandemic. Although we do not anticipate the pandemic to have a material impact on the financial position of the Senate, such a note is a standard feature in the financial statements of organizations this year.
On the statement of financial position, there are two variances worth noting. The employee benefit increased by almost $800,000 compared to last year. The variance is due to the accounting of employee sick leave benefits, as I just discussed. The second variance is the reduction of the amount of tangible capital assets, which is due to the amortization being higher than the assets acquisition.
Now let’s turn to the statement of operations for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020. Expenses subject to budgetary spending authorities increased by 1.9%, which represents $1.8 million. Four main reasons explain that variance: A higher number of senators and higher basic allowance; increase in personnel costs for administration and senator employees; increase in broadcasting services. All of those expenses were partly offset by a decrease in transportation and communication costs.
On the funding side, total funding received, including services received without charges, increased by $2 million, which corresponds to the increase in expenses.
In closing, I would like to thank our external auditors for the quality of their work, despite the pandemic, and the fact that it was their first year auditing the Senate financial statements. I would be pleased to answer any questions.
The Chair: Are there any questions for the CFO? I see no hands up, so I’ll move on to the representatives from Ernst & Young.
Suzie Gignac, Engagement Quality Review Partner, Ernst & Young: Thank you very much. Briefly, we met with the Senate Audit Subcommittee last week. We went through the details of our audit results package and responded to any questions they may have. At a high level, we substantially completed the audit. At this point in time, the open items are very common, and because have to do work up to the date when you approve the financial statements, we anticipate issuing an unmodified or clean opinion, which is an opinion that will essentially say we believe the financial statements are fairly stated in all material respects in accordance with the public sector accounting standards.
On the results of our work, we do believe that management used reasonable judgment and consistency in the methodologies and application of the standards. There were no material corrected or uncorrected differences identified, and we had excellent cooperation from the Senate team.
We did conduct some of the audit virtually as a result of the COVID pandemic, and we leveraged MS Teams to perform our work as well as our EY Canvas portal. We’d like to take the time to thank everyone and we’re happy to answer any questions specifically on our audit work.
The Chair: Colleagues, are there any questions for Ernst & Young?
Senator Plett: Chair, I have had my hand up from the beginning. At what point do you recognize those people with their hands up?
The Chair: It doesn’t show up on my screen, Senator Plett. I don’t know why it doesn’t show up on my screen. My apologies. Your raise hand feature is not up.
Senator Plett: It shows on my screen. Again, there are clearly technical problems that we will experience more of, I’m sure, when we go to hybrid sittings. But I guess that’s not the topic today.
The Chair: We will look into that. Please go ahead.
Senator Plett: Yes, somebody please look into that, because I see have actually seen three hands up on my computer for quite some time.
Be that as it may, I also want to thank the people for all the work they have done on this. It’s clearly an extensive amount of work that we are being asked to look at, and I’m not sure what we’re going to be asked at the end of this, but we received these documents at 9 p.m. EST on Tuesday. Most of us are in our homes, not in our offices at that time of the day. Yesterday was Wednesday and many of us, I’m sure, spent a considerable amount of time on different Zoom calls. For example, I started at about 8:00 in the morning and I didn’t finish my Zoom calls until after 5:00 in the afternoon. Today, at 11:00 EST, we are asked to listen to this report.
Again, I’m not sure what the question will be at the end, but what organization — a $100-million organization — would ask its board of directors to review a document like this? It is 118 pages; I got to page 33, where I found my first question. What organization of $100 million would ask its board of directors, without having done proper scrutiny and spending a considerable amount of time with their staff going over this — this is not a small document. Senator Downe and his committee have spent a considerable amount of time on this, as clearly have the auditors. Senator Downe in his closing comment said, “You all have the information in your package.” Yes, we do. But I, for one, have not seen this.
I sincerely hope this will not be the last meeting we will have on this. When this is done, I absolutely plan on tabling a motion — and I won’t do it now; I will wait for people — that this be tabled to a future meeting so that we can look at these statements properly, scrutinize them properly and come back with proper questions. More than the question that I have where, on page 33, we see that cash on hand, two years in a row, is exactly the same per dollar. I think $415,946, exactly, two years in a row. I find that very strange, whether somebody is intentionally putting certain numbers in there or whether that’s a coincidence. Nevertheless, I have that, and many other questions.
Chair, before we go any further, I would like for you to tell us what is expected of us at the end of this report, because I will strenuously oppose us making any decisions one way or other in accepting this report.
The Chair: First, I should comment a bit as to why the materials were sent out later than normal. Normally, we have a steering committee at 9:00 on Tuesday, but due to conflict of some senators’ schedules, we had to have the meeting at 3:30 on Tuesday. Hence, the material went out much later on Tuesday night than they normally would have.
But I understand your point, Senator Plett. I don’t think you need to table a motion. I’ll gladly defer this item to the next meeting if that’s the will of the Senate. If you need more time, that’s not a problem at all. I would gladly defer this to the next meeting.
Senator Plett: Thank you very much.
The Chair: No problem.
Senator Downe: Chair, I think the presentation today can be for information, which may be helpful as people are reading the documents over the next few days. We don’t need any decisions today, as such. I think Senator Plett makes a very valid point. These are complex, difficult documents, particularly for those of us who aren’t chartered accountants or have training in this area. It takes a lot of time to read them. I think there is some value in presenting them today with the reports, and then people can come back at our next meeting or a further meeting to have their questions answered by the officials and their staff, and Internal can decide what they want to do.
The Chair: I have no problem with that. I think that’s the approach we’ll take.
Senator Dean: I have a quick question for our external auditors. There are a number of risk areas, and we’re used to seeing these key issue areas. I wonder if there’s anything in particular from the list of potential risks that you would want to point us towards, in terms of degrees of magnitude. Is there something among those key issues and risk areas that we should be particularly keeping an eye on during the next year?
Ms. Gignac: Right now, we’re heavily focused, certainly from an auditor and an accountant perspective, on impacts of COVID-19 and anything that could have on a set of financial statements. What might happen from an expense perspective, what might happen from a control perspective as a result of people being remote and not being in their offices on a daily basis? I would say that’s probably an area of focus over the coming year.
Senator Dean: Thank you.
Senator Seidman: Thank you to everyone for the presentation. I do fully support the point that Senator Plett made about having more time to fully review the documents. In a cursory way, I did get to page 55, and I do have a question about the vacation pay and compensatory leave. It says $2.7 million. I’m wondering if the distinction can be made between vacation pay and compensatory leave as opposed to the total amount. The report also talks about the average number of hours of compensatory leave declining from 2018 to 2019. Averages are good in some cases, but in some cases, averages are extremely misleading. If you have a broad range, but you have very extreme values, averages can be misleading. I’m wondering if we have medians, for example. That’s because the report makes a point about the average number of hours having declined from one year to the next.
Those are my two questions.
The Chair: Ernst & Young, would you care to respond, or Pierre?
Mr. Lanctôt: Thank you, senator, for the question. With respect to your two questions, I would suggest deferring the specific response on the average versus median. I don’t have this information. We look at averages, typically, when we do the variance analysis, so I would have to look and see if there’s a disparity between the numbers.
With respect to the first question, compensatory leave is the overtime accumulated that is being paid versus the vacation that is the true vacation that people accumulate. If your question was about the specific amount for each category, I will bring the details at the next meeting, if it’s okay with you, when we discuss the financial statements further.
Senator Seidman: Thank you. That’s fine; I appreciate it.
Senator Forest-Niesing: I do have a few questions. I took some time to review the financial statements. I’m wondering, if we’re going to be deferring this discussion, whether I shouldn’t just send in my questions and they can be answered, if a deferral of the discussion is preferable. I leave that to you, chair.
The Chair: Why don’t we do them all together next week? If you can let the CFO know, we’ll be ready to answer the questions.
Senator Forest-Niesing: I do have a number of questions. I’ll send them in.
The Chair: Senators, I see no other hands up, so we will have this tabled as the first item at the next meeting. Next is Item 2b, which is related to it, but it’s much shorter. Also, senators, it is normally a good business practice to have an in camera meeting with the auditors alone. So we will have the in camera meeting with the auditors after our detailed discussion next week as well.
We’ll go to Item 2b, the third report from the Audit Subcommittee, which deals with the proposed modifications to the accounting treatment for the recording of capital assets. Senator Downe will say a few words.
Senator Downe: The document in front of me is seven pages. I’m going to summarize it. Basically, colleagues, this is a report that we need a decision on at a future meeting. It’s the third report, on intersessional authority, in your package. Your subcommittee examined proposed modifications to the accounting treatment for the recording of capital assets, which will have an impact on the financial statements.
The Capital Assets Accounting Policy was first adopted by the Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration Committee on March 26, 2009, and has not been updated since then. The purpose of this changed policy is to provide directions on appropriate and consistent accounting treatment for capital assets. The policy provides the principles and directives to be applied in order to appropriately account for and report on capital assets in the Senate’s financial statements.
Based on the work completed on the Capital Assets Accounting Policy, finance has identified two key changes to the existing practices that will better align expenses with revenue, simplify financial accounting and improve efficiency.
The first is increasing the threshold applied for the recognition of capital assets, and the second is to discontinue the use of pooling of assets for single or low-volume purchases below the capitalized threshold.
In addition to that, you’ll see the other issues outlined in the document in front of you. Chair, I will not read them all. People will have time between this meeting and the next meeting. But I would advise that we do require — and your Audit Subcommittee will be recommending — the approval of the changes that are in your documents at our next meeting. That’s it for the report, chair.
The Chair: Are there any questions for Senator Downe for now? If not, we’ll move on to Item 2c.
Senator Moncion: I’ve raised my hand.
The Chair: Senator Moncion, please go ahead.
Senator Moncion: It’s just a question for efficiency purposes. We had that document a couple of weeks ago. We read it and deferred it then, and we’re still deferring it. I think it’s an easy —
The Chair: An easy approval. I get your point; I think you’re right. Item 2b was circulated two weeks ago, so senators have had plenty of time to review that. If it’s okay with you, Senator Downe, I think on this one we can proceed to a roll-call vote. It is a change in accounting policy and is relatively straightforward.
Senator Downe: Wonderful, chair. With your approval, unless there are further questions, I will read our recommendation.
Senator Forest-Niesing: I do have one quick question. I support that we move ahead and that it is likely an easy approval.
On page 4 of 2b, or in the package on page 71, under the second paragraph under the title “financial impact,” there’s an indication that the increased annual deficit on the statement of operations would gradually lessen over time based on what’s being proposed. I want to have a sense of what kind of time frame is contemplated here. What are we looking at?
Senator Downe: I would ask the financial people on the call —
The Chair: Mr. Lanctôt, would you care to respond to that?
Mr. Lanctôt: Thank you. We’re talking basically about roughly five years for the majority of the depreciation to be ending. So there might be a bit of residual, but within five years we should be to a normal state.
Senator Forest-Niesing: Thank you.
The Chair: Senator Downe, please proceed with the motion.
Senator Downe: It has been indicated that people have had these documents now for a couple of weeks. I just want to highlight, before I move to the recommendation, that these changes that are being proposed are supported by the approach used by other parliamentary associations and entities, and other government organizations of similar size, and are aligned with the practice of outside organizations.
The recommendations, chair, are the following:
. . . your Audit Subcommittee recommends that CIBA:
- approve changes to the capitalization threshold for assets to increase from $3,000 to $8,000;
- approve the elimination of the pooling of assets for single or low volume purchases below the capitalization threshold; and
- approve that the policy changes take into effect on April 1, 2020.
The Chair: Honourable senators, the clerk will proceed with the roll-call vote.
[Translation]
Senator Carignan: I would like to raise a point of order. We have not received the French translation of the text. The interpreters were unable to translate the end of Senator Downe’s presentation. Is it possible to go back and get the full translation? As it was on the French channel, the volume on the English channel was very low, so I did not understand part of Senator Downe’s presentation.
[English]
The Chair: Mr. Lanctôt, can you elaborate on this?
Senator Moncion: It’s not Mr. Lanctôt; it should be Senator Downe who repeats.
Senator Downe: I can repeat if necessary.
The Chair: Please go ahead. I thought there was a clarification needed, but please go ahead.
Senator Downe: I’m not sure if the translation came through. If you can nod for the translation as I’m reading.
The changes that we’re suggesting are supported by the approach used by other parliamentary entities and associations, and other government organizations of similar sizes that are aligned with the practice of outside organizations, and the recommendations from your Audit Subcommittee are that CIBA:
- approve changes to the capitalization threshold for assets to increase from $3,000 to $8,000;
- approve the elimination of the pooling of assets for single or low volume purchases below the capitalization threshold; and
- approve that the policy changes take into effect on April 1, 2020.
The Chair: Is that clear, Senator Carignan?
[Translation]
Senator Carignan: Yes, thank you.
[English]
The Chair: I will ask the clerk to proceed with the roll-call vote.
Ms. Legault: Honourable senators, we will proceed in the same fashion as before.
The Honourable Senator Marwah?
Senator Marwah: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Carignan?
Senator Carignan: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Dean?
Senator Dean: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Downe?
Senator Downe: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Dupuis?
Senator Dupuis: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Forest?
Senator Forest: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Forest-Niesing?
Senator Forest-Niesing: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Gagné?
Senator Gagné: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Jaffer?
Senator Jaffer: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Marshall?
Senator Marshall: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Martin?
Senator Martin: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Moncion?
Senator Moncion: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Munson?
Senator Munson: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Plett?
Senator Plett: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Saint-Germain?
Senator Saint-Germain: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Seidman?
Senator Seidman: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Tannas?
Senator Tannas: Yes.
Ms. Legault: Mr. Chair, we have 17 “yes” votes.
The Chair: I declare the motion carried.
Honourable colleagues, Item 2c and Item 3 were also fairly large documents with a lot of financial information. While they’re provided to CIBA for information only, I do appreciate the fact that some of you may not have had adequate time to review the detailed information. Given the fact it may still create questions, would you like those deferred to the next meeting or would you like to proceed now?
Senator Plett: I would prefer they be deferred, chair.
The Chair: I have no problem with that, so we’ll defer Item 2c and Item 3 to the next meeting. Are we all agreed, colleagues?
Let’s move on to Item 4. My thanks to the auditors and to Pierre as well.
Honourable senators, Item 4 concerns the publishing of CIBA and subcommittee information on the Senate website. Shaila Anwar, Deputy Principal Clerk of Committees will join the meeting as a witness. This presentation will be followed by time for questions.
Shaila Anwar, Deputy Principal Clerk, Committees, Senate of Canada: Thank you, Senator Marwah. Good morning, senators. I will be brief.
In the past, information about CIBA’s subcommittees, such as membership, meetings and proceedings, was not available on the Senate website. This was primarily because most subcommittees of CIBA met in camera and tended to be more informal.
Over the course of the Forty-second Parliament, however, that changed. Some subcommittees held public and televised meetings, which required some of them to be integrated into Iris, our legislative system that supports the Senate website and broadcasting systems. However, this led to some inconsistencies in terms of what information was posted about CIBA and what information was available about its various subcommittees.
The Committees Directorate worked with ISD to rectify these inconsistencies in preparation for the new session. In 43-1, the previous session, all of CIBA’s subcommittees were added to the Senate website after consultation with the steering committee. This was also necessary in order to permit them to meet virtually during the pandemic.
As a result, subcommittee membership, meeting data and senators’ attendance to subcommittees are now tracked and recorded in the same manner as it is for CIBA and other Senate committees.
We also presented steering with additional suggestions with respect to the publication of subcommittee reports and the use of the Briefs and Other Documents page on the website to post documents received by witnesses or other third parties.
CIBA recently used this option to post the Otis report on its web page, making the document accessible to the public in the same manner as any committee would.
Steering agreed with our suggestions to maintain the status quo and continue these practices, which will ensure greater consistency and access to information about CIBA and its subcommittees, and asked that we provide members with this update today. I’d be happy to answer any questions that you might have.
The Chair: Are there any questions for Shaila? I’m going to read out the motion. It says:
All CIBA subcommittees remain on the public website in the new session and publish information in a similar manner as CIBA.
CIBA and its subcommittees use the “Briefs and Other Documents” page to post public documents that are received from witnesses or other third parties.
CIBA continue to publish reports of subcommittees that are tabled or presented during public portions of their meetings in their Minutes of Proceedings and send an electronic copy to those requesting it before the Minutes are posted publicly.
Senator Munson: I move this motion.
The Chair: I will ask the clerk to proceed with a roll-call vote.
Senator Plett: Could I ask a question?
The Chair: Certainly.
Senator Plett: I’m sure that I’m supportive of this, but this would happen only after CIBA had approved the reports of the subcommittees?
Ms. Anwar: Yes. If it is a report that CIBA is going to present in the Senate, then the reports would be made public only after they’re presented or tabled in the Senate. However, there are many subcommittee reports made to CIBA that don’t go beyond that to the Senate. It’s not necessary for them to be reported to the Senate.
They do have to be adopted by CIBA and, when CIBA receives the report and it’s not going to the Senate, those reports would be in the minutes of CIBA, provided that it was presented in a public portion of the meeting.
Senator Plett: Thank you very much. That answers my question. Thanks.
The Chair: I will ask the clerk to proceed with the roll-call vote.
Ms. Legault: Honourable senators, we will proceed in the same fashion as before.
The Honourable Senator Marwah?
Senator Marwah: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Carignan?
Senator Carignan: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Dean?
Senator Dean: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Downe?
Senator Downe: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Dupuis?
Senator Dupuis: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Forest?
Senator Forest: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Forest-Niesing?
Senator Forest-Niesing: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Gagné?
Senator Gagné: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Jaffer?
Senator Jaffer: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Marshall?
Senator Marshall: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Martin?
Senator Martin: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Moncion?
Senator Moncion: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Munson?
Senator Munson: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Plett?
Senator Plett: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Saint-Germain?
Senator Saint-Germain: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Seidman?
Senator Seidman: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Tannas?
Senator Tannas: Yes.
Ms. Legault: Mr. Chair, we have 17 “yes” votes.
The Chair: I declare the motion carried.
Colleagues, the next item is a motion from the Subcommittee on Senate Estimates to extend their reporting deadline on the review of the funding formula for Senate leadership, caucus and groups.
Senator Moncion, the chair of the Senate Estimates Subcommittee will elaborate. Senator Moncion, the floor is yours.
[Translation]
Senator Moncion: The motion seeks to extend the date for tabling the final report of the Subcommittee on Senate Estimates to November 19, 2020. There is one witness who has not been able to appear so far, so we want to be able to complete our work and have sufficient time to study the various components and present the report. The motion reads as follows:
Honourable senators, I move:
That, notwithstanding the order of the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration adopted on August 27, 2020, the date for the final report of the Subcommittee on Senate Estimates in relation to its study on the review of the formula for determining the allocations of caucuses, groups and House officer budgets, be extended from October 30 to November 19, 2020.
[English]
The Chair: Honourable senators, are there any questions for Senator Moncion?
I shall ask the clerk to proceed with the roll-call vote.
Ms. Legault: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Honourable senators, we will proceed in the same fashion as before.
The Honourable Senator Marwah?
Senator Marwah: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Carignan?
Senator Carignan: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Dean?
Senator Dean: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Downe?
Senator Downe: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Dupuis?
Senator Dupuis: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Forest?
Senator Forest: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Forest-Niesing?
Senator Forest-Niesing: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Gagné?
Senator Gagné: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Jaffer?
Senator Jaffer: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Marshall?
Senator Marshall: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Martin?
Senator Martin: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Moncion?
Senator Moncion: For.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Munson?
Senator Munson: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Plett?
Senator Plett: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Saint-Germain?
Senator Saint-Germain: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Seidman?
Senator Seidman: Yes.
Ms. Legault: The Honourable Senator Tannas?
Senator Tannas: Yes.
Ms. Legault: Mr. Chair, we have 17 “yes” votes.
The Chair: Thank you. I declare the motion carried.
That takes us to Item 6, which is “other matters.” Colleagues, there are two items that I wish to advise you were discussed at steering. The first is that steering was informed that Senator Plett will represent the Senate on the jury for the Block 2 Architectural Design Competition. The second is that on the advice of the Audit Subcommittee, steering has approached the Board of Internal Economy at the House of Commons to conduct a joint audit for the IT cybersecurity infrastructure. That’s provided to you for your information.
Are there any other matters of public business before we move in camera, colleagues? I see no hands up, so we’ll take a minute and go in camera.
(The committee continued in camera.)