Report of the committee
Thursday, May 9, 2019
The Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration has the honour to table its
FORTIETH REPORT
On Thursday, December 6, 2018 and on Thursday, May 9, 2019, through the adoption of reports of the Subcommittee on Committee Budgets, your committee agreed to table in the Senate the post-activity expenditure reports of Senate committees in order to increase the public’s understanding of committee budgets and actual expenditures.
This responds to an increased demand for transparency regarding Senate expenses.
Therefore, in accordance with the decisions of Thursday, December 6, 2018 and Thursday, May 9, 2019, your committee now tables the following committee post-activity expenditure reports for 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18 (1st Session, 42nd Parliament), which are appended to this report:
Fiscal year 2015-16
(International market access priorities for the Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food Sector)
Activity 1: Moncton, New-Brunswick (Fact-finding mission and public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 84,137 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 30,693 |
| Surplus | $ | 53,444 |
Fiscal year 2016-17
Foreign Affairs and International Trade
(political and economic developments in Argentina in the context of their potential impact on regional and global dynamics, including on Canadian policy and other related matters)
Activity 1: Buenos Aires, Argentina (Fact-finding mission)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 249,126 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 106,661 |
| Surplus | $ | 142,465 |
(opportunities for strengthening cooperation with Mexico)
Activity 1: Mexico City, Mexico (Fact-finding and Presentation to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Mexican Senate)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 19,452 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 17,694 |
| Surplus | $ | 1,758 |
(International market access priorities for the Canadian Agriculture and Agri-Food Sector)
Activity 1: Calgary, Alberta (Fact-finding mission and public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 100,188 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 43,981 |
| Surplus | $ | 56,207 |
Activity 2: Beijing and Shanghai, China (Fact-finding mission and exhibition)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 260,000 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 75,078 |
| Surplus | $ | 184,922 |
(housing in First Nation and Inuit communities in Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut and the Northwest Territories)
Activity 1: Nunavut, Nunatsiavut and Nunavik (Fact-finding mission)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 212,550 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 127,375 |
| Surplus | $ | 85,175 |
(internal barriers to trade)
Activity 1: Vancouver, Calgary and Winnipeg (Public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 160,072 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 23,570 |
| Surplus | $ | 136,502 |
Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources
(effects of transitioning to a low carbon economy)
Activity 1: Vancouver, Kitimat, Prince George, Calgary and Estevan (Fact-finding mission)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 119,143 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 58,099 |
| Surplus | $ | 61,044 |
Activity 2: Southern Ontario (including Sarnia and Hamilton) (Fact-finding mission)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 29,792 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 17,588 |
| Surplus | $ | 12,204 |
Activity 3: Montreal, Quebec (Fact-finding mission)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 18,704 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 8,012 |
| Surplus | $ | 10,692 |
Legal and Constitutional Affairs
(delays in Canada’s criminal justice system)
Activity 1: Halifax, Nova Scotia (Fact-finding mission and public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 65,340 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 22,603 |
| Surplus | $ | 42,737 |
Activity 2: Vancouver, Calgary and Saskatoon (Fact-finding mission and public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 104,326 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 67,964 |
| Surplus | $ | 36,362 |
Activity 3: Montreal, Quebec (Fact-finding mission and public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 20,774 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 9,568 |
| Surplus | $ | 11,206 |
(challenges associated with access to French-language schools and French immersion programs in British Columbia)
Activity 1: British Columbia (Fact-finding mission and public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 123,328 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 60,345 |
| Surplus | $ | 62,983 |
(Maritime Search and Rescue)
Activity 1: Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick (Fact-finding mission and public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 107,588 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 41,752 |
| Surplus | $ | 65,836 |
Activity 2: Newfoundland and Labrador (Fact-finding mission and public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 152,657 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 44,002 |
| Surplus | $ | 108,655 |
(steps being taken to facilitate the integration of newly-arrived Syrian refugees)
Activity 1: Toronto and Montreal (Fact-finding mission and public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 54,794 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 18,839 |
| Surplus | $ | 35,955 |
(Defence Policy Review presently being undertaken by the government)
Activity 1: New York, NY (Fact-finding mission)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 50,000 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 13,074 |
| Surplus | $ | 36,926 |
(development of a strategy to facilitate the transport of crude oil to eastern Canadian refineries and to ports on the East and West coasts of Canada)
Activity 1: Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver (Fact-finding mission and public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 190,376 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 61,977 |
| Surplus | $ | 128,399 |
Activity 2: Montreal, Saint John, Halifax and Port Hawkesbury (Fact-finding mission and public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 164,276 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 50,546 |
| Surplus | $ | 113,730 |
Transport and Communications (connected and automated vehicles)
Activity 1: Toronto, Ontario (Conference on Automated vehicles)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 19,364 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 7,130 |
| Surplus | $ | 12,234 |
Fiscal year 2017-18
(acquisition of farmland in Canada)
Activity 1: Washington, D.C. (Fact-finding mission)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 58,590 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 29,992 |
| Surplus | $ | 28,598 |
(potential impact of the effects of climate change on the agriculture, agri-food and forestry sectors)
Activity 1: Halifax and Montreal (Fact-finding mission and public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 115,770 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 49,048 |
| Surplus | $ | 66,722 |
Activity 2: Vancouver and Calgary (Fact-finding mission and public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 159,874 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 89,616 |
| Surplus | $ | 70,258 |
(new relationship between Canada and First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples)
Activity 1: Winnipeg, Prince Albert, Ile-à-la-Crosse, Buffalo Lake, Siksika, Calgary (Fact-finding mission and public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 216,978 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 97,899 |
| Surplus | $ | 119,079 |
(cyber security and cyber fraud)
Activity 1: New York, NY (Conference: Wall Street Journal Pro Cybersecurity Executive Forum)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 19,064 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 6,413 |
| Surplus | $ | 12,651 |
Banking, Trade and Commerce (current and emerging issues of the banking sector and monetary policy in the United States)
Activity 1: New York and Washington (Fact-finding mission)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 100,158 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 44,563 |
| Surplus | $ | 55,595 |
Energy, the Environment and Natural Resources
(effects of transitioning to a low carbon economy)
Activity 1: St. John’s, Summerside, Saint-André, Saint-John, Parrsboro and Halifax (Fact-finding mission)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 104,436 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 60,758 |
| Surplus | $ | 43,678 |
(Minister of Finance’s proposed changes to the Income Tax Act)
Activity 1: St. John’s, Halifax and Saint-John (Public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 131,725 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 75,775 |
| Surplus | $ | 55,950 |
Activity 2: Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Calgary and Vancouver (Public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 168,975 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 104,586 |
| Surplus | $ | 64,389 |
(challenges associated with access to French schools and French immersion programs in British Columbia)
Activity 1: Vancouver, British Columbia (Press Conference)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 17,440 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 8,245 |
| Surplus | $ | 9,195 |
Official Languages (Canadians’ views about modernizing the Official Languages Act)
Activity 1: Prince Edward Island (Fact-finding mission and public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 67,400 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 39,019 |
| Surplus | $ | 28,831 |
Activity 2: Winnipeg, Manitoba (Fact-finding mission and public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 68,000 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 34,939 |
| Surplus | $ | 33,061 |
(Maritime Search and Rescue)
Activity 1: United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway and Denmark (Fact-finding mission)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 125,000 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 60,678 |
| Surplus | $ | 64,322 |
Activity 2: British Columbia (Fact-finding mission and public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 96,450 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 23,037 |
| Surplus | $ | 73,414 |
(human rights of prisoners in the correctional system)
Activity 1: Brockville, Kingston and Montreal (Fact-finding mission and public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 71,250 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 31,726 |
| Surplus | $ | 39,524 |
Activity 2: Kitchener, Ontario (Fact-finding mission and public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 52,862 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 18,706 |
| Surplus | $ | 34,156 |
Activity 3: Renous, Dorchester, Springhill and Truro (Fact-finding mission and public hearings)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 85,484 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 20,500 |
| Surplus | $ | 64,984 |
Social Affairs, Science and Technology
(role of robotics, 3D printing and artificial intelligence in the healthcare system)
Activity 1: University of Ottawa and Ottawa Hospital, Ontario (Fact-finding mission)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 1,300 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 604 |
| Surplus | $ | 696 |
(connected and automated vehicles)
Activity 1: Toronto, Ontario (Conference on Automated Vehicles)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 31,304 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 13,065 |
| Surplus | $ | 18,239 |
Activity 2: University of Waterloo, Ontario (Fact-finding mission)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 54,038 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 11,891 |
| Surplus | $ | 42,147 |
Activity 3: QNX Facilities in Kanata, Ontario (Fact-finding mission)
| Budget amount approved | $ | 1,800 |
| Actual expenditures | $ | 800 |
| Surplus | $ | 1,000 |
SABI MARWAH
Chair