Proceedings of the Standing Committee on
Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration
Minutes of Proceedings - December 6, 2018
OTTAWA, Thursday, December 6, 2018
(68)
[English]
The Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration met this day at 8:30 a.m., in room 160-S, Centre Block, the chair, the Honourable Sabi Marwah, presiding.
Members of the committee present: The Honourable Senators Batters, Boisvenu, Carignan, P.C., Dawson, Dean, Forest, Marshall, Marwah, Mitchell, Moncion, Munson, Plett, Saint-Germain, Tkachuk, Verner, P.C. and Wetston (16).
Also in attendance: Pascale Legault, Chief Corporate Services Officer and Clerk of the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration; Richard Denis, Interim Clerk of the Senate; senior Senate officials and other support staff.
Also present: The official reporters of the Senate.
WITNESSES:
The Senate of Canada:
The Honourable Senator Donald Neil Plett, Senator;
Pierre Lanctôt, Chief Financial Officer, Finance and Procurement Directorate;
Nathalie Charpentier, Comptroller and Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Finance and Procurement Directorate;
Vanessa Bastos, Lead, People, Culture and Inclusion, Human Resources Directorate;
Blair Armitage, Principal Clerk, Committees Directorate.
House of Commons:
Yasmin Ratansi, Member of Parliament for Don Valley East, Ontario.
International and Interparliamentary Affairs:
Colette Labrecque-Riel, Clerk Assistant and Director General.
Pursuant to rule 12-7(1) of the Rules of the Senate, the committee continued its consideration of financial and administrative matters concerning the Senate's internal administration.
CIBA/2018-12-06/518(P)|211| — Adoption of Minutes of Proceedings
The committee considered the Minutes of Proceedings of Thursday, November 29, 2018, public portion.
The Honourable Senator Munson moved:
That the Minutes of Proceedings of Thursday, November 29, 2018, public portion, be adopted.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
CIBA/2018-12-06/519(P)|233| — Report of the Joint Interparliamentary Council: Submissions for Conferences
The Honourable Senator Plett provided an update in relation to the work of the Joint Interparliamentary Council.
Yasmin Ratansi made a statement and, together with Colette Labrecque-Riel, answered questions on the request from the Joint Interparliamentary Council for approval and funding to host the 65th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference.
After debate, the Honourable Senator Dean moved:
That approval be granted to host the 65th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Halifax, in January 2021, and
That funding be approved as follows: $176,595 from annual surpluses of Associations and Exchanges for fiscal year 2019-2020 and $1,394,387 of additional temporary funding for fiscal year 2020-2021 for a total of $1,570,982 which would be shared using the usual formula (30% Senate, 70% House of Commons) between the Senate ($471,293) and the House of Commons ($1,099,690).
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted, on division.
Colette Labrecque-Riel made a statement and answered questions on the request from the Joint Interparliamentary Council for approval and funding to host the 29th Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
After debate, the Honourable Senator Wetston moved:
That approval be granted to host the 29th Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Vancouver, British Columbia, in July 2020, and
That funding be approved as follows: $176,595 from annual surpluses of Associations and Exchanges for fiscal year 2019-2020 and $1,394,387 of additional temporary funding for fiscal year 2020-2021 for a total of $1,570,982 which would be shared using the usual formula (30% Senate, 70% House of Commons) between the Senate ($471,293) and the House of Commons ($1,099,690).
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted, on division.
CIBA/2018-12-06/520(P)|371| — Report from the Subcommittee on Senate Estimates: Main Estimates 2019 — 2020
The Chair of the Subcommittee on Senate Estimates, the Honourable Senator Moncion, tabled the ninth report of the subcommittee as follows:
Thursday, December 6, 2018
The Subcommittee on the Senate Estimates of the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration has the honour to present its
NINTH REPORT
Your subcommittee has the mandate to review the proposed Senate estimates, keeping in mind the necessity for the Senate and its Administration to demonstrate responsible management of the public funds that are allocated to the institution.
Your subcommittee, composed of Senators Dawson, Marshall, McCoy, Moncion, and Tannas, held two meetings in November 2018 to review the funding requirements for the Senate Main Estimates for 2019-2020. Any funding increase from the previous year had to be supported by detailed documentation and submission to the subcommittee to justify new spending. Your subcommittee received 20 presentations and heard testimony from 14 individuals representing all directorates. They submitted their operational and financial requirements as well as their justification for the changes, if any, to their budget for 2019-2020. Your subcommittee is thankful to all these individuals for their presentations.
Throughout the course of its study, your subcommittee took into account the ongoing changes in the Senate and the additional requirements related to the physical move of the institution. Each budget proposal was reviewed based on the following principles:
- Financially prudent
- Supporting Senate activities
- Value for money
- Work-life balance
As part of its deliberations, your subcommittee has identified some key elements that it considers worth highlighting to provide continuity when preparing and reviewing future funding requirements:
• Strategic Planning: Your subcommittee recognizes the importance of governance and the development of strategic priorities for the institution. It encourages the Administration to bring forward a new strategic plan, identify key priorities, and elaborate a business plan to better align the funding of new initiatives with the annual budget planning cycle.
• Learning Centre: Your subcommittee notes the importance for the Senate to have a talent management program and ongoing development of its resources supported by a better framework that is more responsive to the organization's needs.
• Administration: Your subcommittee recognizes that the Senate is now operating at full capacity with fewer than 5 vacant senator positions. To deliver the services required to carry out the parliamentary and constitutional functions of senators and the Senate, and considering the growth and complexity of operations, your subcommittee recommends the addition of 27 new permanent and temporary positions, which are listed in an appendix to this report. These 27 positions, dedicated to Senate operations, represent a 6.7% headcount increase.
• Broadcasting: Your subcommittee notes the significant increase in funding requested to cover the operating costs of broadcasting, web streaming, and the supporting infrastructure required by the Senate and committee meetings. The substantial increase requested is the result of the negotiations of a new permanent television broadcasting contract with the House of Commons.
• Caucus and Parliamentary Group Budget: As part of its study of the estimates, your subcommittee also took note of the Leaders and Facilitators' letter of understanding on the overall amount required to operate, while recognizing that the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration approves the funds allocated to the different recognized caucuses and parliamentary groups.
In its review of the Main Estimates, your subcommittee examined the resources available to senators to conduct their parliamentary and constitutional responsibilities. With respect to the statutory budget, the increase is $884,685. This includes:
• a net budget increase to the senators' basic and additional allowances and pension contributions of $275,167 (an increase of $440,700 for allowances and a decrease of $165,533 for pension contributions); and
• an increase of $723,270 to the Employee Benefits Plan resulting from the adjustments to the overall personnel cost and changes in the Treasury Board contributions' rate.
The voted budget that pertain to the work of senators will be increased of $487,500. This amount includes:
• an increase of $487,500 to Senators' Office Expense Budgets, which takes inflation into account, and therefore will increase from $225,372 to $230,105.
As part of the voted budget, funding for the Senate Administration represents an overall increase of $3,736,471. Key elements of the budget include:
• An increase to the Senate-wide personnel budget of $1,337,587 to provide for the economic increases of $968,012 for unrepresented and unionized employees, and for personnel expenses of $369,575, that vary from one year to the next, such as maternity and parental benefits, severance pay, injury on duty, and vacation payouts;
• A temporary increase to the budget of $315,727 to continue the human resources transformation initiative;
• A permanent increase of $496,636 for the delivery of its programs, including the annual processing fees of $173,000 for payroll services;
• An increase to the Communications and Information Services Directorates operational budgets of $673,375 and $89,525 respectively for broadcasting, web streaming and infrastructure support required for the Senate Chamber and the committee meetings;
• An increase to the Chamber Operations and Procedure Office personnel budget of $233,957 for additional resources to support the mandate of Debates and Publications;
• An increase to the Finance and Procurement Directorate budget of $205,307 for procurement activities;
• An increase to the Committees Directorate personnel budget of $167,288 for one additional Procedural Clerk and one Administrative Assistant to allow the assignment of a clerk to each Senate committee and subcommittee;
• An increase to the Property and Services Directorate maintenance budget of $121,814; and
• A temporary increase to the Corporate Security Directorate budget of $120,400 to upgrade high security locks.
Therefore, your subcommittee makes the following recommendations:
• That the Senate's 2019-2020 budget be $114,188,759, which represents an increase of 4.7 per cent from the previous year; and
• That the 2019-2020 budget adjustments listed in the Appendix be approved.
Respectfully submitted,
LUCIE MONCION
Chair
The Honourable Senator Moncion made a statement and, together with Pierre Lanctôt, answered questions.
After debate, the Honourable Senator Moncion moved:
That the report be adopted and that it be presented in the Senate.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted, on division.
CIBA/2018-12-06/521(P)|301| — Subcommittee Memberships
The Honourable Senator Marwah made a statement about the vacancies in five of the subcommittees.
The Honourable Senator Saint-Germain moved:
That the Honourable Senator Dawson be added as a member of the Subcommittee on Communications;
That the Honourable Senator Dean be added as a member of the Subcommittee on the Long-Term Vision and Plan;
That the Honourable Senator Wetston be added as a member of the Subcommittee on Senate Estimates;
That the Honourable Senator Munson be added as a member of the Subcommittee on Human Resources; and
That the Honourable Senator Munson be added as a member of the Subcommittee on Diversity.
The question being put on the motion, it was adopted.
CIBA/2018-12-06/522(P)|390| — Report from the Subcommittee on Human Resources
The Honourable Senator Saint-Germain and Vanessa Bastos provided an update on the work of the Subcommittee on Human Resources and the mandatory training for senators on the prevention of harassment in the workplace.
CIBA/2018-12-06/523(P)|295| — Report from the Subcommittee on Committee Budgets: Post-activity Expenditure Reports of Senate Committees
The Chair of the Subcommittee on Committee Budgets, the Honourable Senator Verner, P.C., tabled the twenty-second report of the subcommittee as follows:
Thursday, December 6, 2018
The Subcommittee on Committee Budgets of the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration has the honour to table its
TWENTY-SECOND REPORT
In 2007, the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration (CIBA) decided that the Senate Administration would prepare detailed post-activity reports following each committee travel activity. Post-activity reports include a breakdown of the amount requested for each line object in the committee's budget, with the corresponding actual expenditure.
These post-activity reports are reviewed by the committee who incurred the expenses and then by your subcommittee who tables a summary of these reports with CIBA.
In 2014, CIBA agreed to table the summary of post-activity expenditure reports in the Senate, 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.
A key principle with committees budgets is that committees cannot exceed the total amount approved by the Senate for a given travel activity. Because of this, committees must always ensure that their budgets contain sufficient funds to pay for all travellers, often long before they have any certainty on the final number of travellers or even the dates of travel. There are several reasons for this:
• Because of the approval processes required for all committee budgets, they must be prepared well in advance of the intended travel dates and final itinerary. There can therefore be large variances in the price of certain costs, such as for airline tickets, hotels or buses.
• The number of travellers varies from the time the budget is prepared to when actual travel occurs.
For these reasons, budget amounts tend to be higher than the actual expenditures made by committees, with the average percentage of funds spent being around 40% over the past seven fiscal years.
It is important to note however, once an activity has been completed, any surplus funds are clawed back and returned to the central budget for possible redistribution, pursuant to a decision of the Senate from April 3, 2003.
In accordance with the decision of Thursday, March 27, 2014, your subcommittee now tables the following summary of committee post-activity expenditures for 2015-16 and 2016-17 (1st Session, 42nd Parliament), along with individual committee post-activity reports, which are appended to this report:
2015-2016:
Agriculture and Forestry (international market access priorities)
Activity 1: Moncton, NB (public hearings and fact-finding mission)
Budget amount approved $84,137 Actual expenditures $30,693 Surplus $53,444 2016-2017:
Aboriginal Peoples (housing in First Nation and Inuit communities in Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut and the Northwest Territories)
Activity 1: Nunavut, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut (fact-finding mission)
Budget amount approved $212,550 Actual expenditures $127,375 Surplus $85,175 Agriculture and Forestry (international market access priorities)
Activity 1: Calgary (public hearings and fact-finding mission)
Budget amount approved $100,188 Actual expenditures $43,981 Surplus $56,207 Activity 2: Beijing and Shanghai, China (fact-finding mission)
Budget amount approved $260,000 Actual expenditures $75,078 Surplus $184,922 Banking, Trade and Commerce (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: West (Vancouver, Kitimat, Prince George, Calgary and Estevant) (fact-finding mission)
Budget amount approved $119,143 Actual expenditures $58,099 Surplus $61,044 Activity 2: Southern Ontario (Sarnia and Hamilton) (fact-finding mission)
Budget amount approved $29,792 Actual expenditures $17,588 Surplus $12,204 Activity 3: Montreal (fact-finding mission)
Budget amount approved $18,704 Actual expenditures $8,012 Surplus $10,692 Fisheries and Oceans (Maritime Search and Rescue)
Activity 1: Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick (public hearings and fact-finding mission)
Budget amount approved $107,588 Actual expenditures $41,752 Surplus $65,836 Activity 2: Newfoundland and Labrador (public hearings and fact-finding mission)
Budget amount approved $152,657 Actual expenditures $44,002 Surplus $108,655 Foreign Affairs and International Trade (recent political and economic developments in Argentina)
Activity 1: Argentina, Buenos Aires (fact-finding mission)
Budget amount approved $249,126 Actual expenditures $106,661 Surplus $142,465 Foreign Affairs and International Trade (opportunities for strengthening cooperation with Mexico)
Activity 1: Mexico City (fact-finding mission)
Budget amount approved $19,452 Actual expenditures $17,694 Surplus $1,758 Human Rights (integration of newly arrived Syrian refugees)
Activity 1: Toronto and Montreal (public hearings fact-finding mission)
Budget amount approved $54,794 Actual expenditures $18,839 Surplus $35,955 Legal and Constitutional Affairs (delays in Canada's criminal justice system)
Activity 1: Halifax (public hearings and fact-finding mission)
Budget amount approved $65,340 Actual expenditures $22,603 Surplus $42,737 Activity 2: Vancouver, Calgary and Saskatoon (public hearings and fact-finding mission)
Budget amount approved $104,326 Actual expenditures $67,964 Surplus $36,362 Activity 3: Montreal (public hearings and fact-finding mission)
Budget amount approved $20,774 Actual expenditures $9,568 Surplus $11,206 National Security and Defence (Defence Policy Review)
Activity 1: New York City (fact-finding mission)
Budget amount approved $50,000 Actual expenditures $13,074 Surplus $36,926 Official Languages (access to French-language schools and French immersion programs in British Columbia)
Activity 1: British Columbia (public hearings fact-finding mission)
Budget amount approved $123,328 Actual expenditures $60,345 Surplus $62,983 Transport and Communications (transport of crude oil)
Activity 1: Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver (public hearings fact-finding mission)
Budget amount approved $190,376 Actual expenditures $61,977 Surplus $128,399 Activity 2: Montreal, Saint John, Halifax and Port Hawkesbury (public hearings fact-finding mission)
Budget amount approved $164,276 Actual expenditures $50,546 Surplus $113,730 Transport and Communications (connected and automated vehicles)
Activity 1: Toronto (conference)
Budget amount approved $19,364 Actual expenditures $7,130 Surplus $12,234 Totals for 2015-2016:
Travel activities approved 1 Travel activities completed 1 Approved budgets $84,137 Actual expenditures $30,693 Surplus $53,444 Totals for 2016-2017:
Travel activities approved 22 Travel activities completed 20 Approved budgets $2,464,051 Actual expenditures $903,558 Surplus $1,560,493 Totals for 2015-2016 and 2016-2017:
Travel activities approved 23 Travel activities completed 21 Approved budgets $2,548,188 Actual expenditures $934,251 Surplus $1,613,937 Respectfully submitted,
JOSÉE VERNER, P.C.
Chair
At 10:00 a.m., the committee proceeded in camera, pursuant to rule 12-16(1).
At 10:01 a.m., the committee adjourned to the call of the chair.
ATTEST:
Pascale Legault
Chief Corporate Services Officer and Clerk of the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration
Gérald Lafrenière
Recording Secretary