Each year, parliamentary committees undertake numerous studies based on the permanent or specific mandates given to them by the House of Commons. For instance, they study bills and may amend them before sending them back to the House of Commons. They are involved in the review of the government’s spending by examining departmental estimates, reports on plans and priorities (departmental plans) and performance reports. They also participate in the review of order in council appointments by calling nominees to appear. Furthermore, committees may initiate their own studies on issues related to the subject areas of their mandates. In conducting these studies, committees will hear from witnesses and, in most cases, will present a report of their findings and recommendations back to the House of Commons. Given the number and scope of their studies, it is clear that committees play an essential role in the work of the House of Commons.

The Liaison Committee, composed of the Chairs of all standing committees and the House Co-Chairs of standing joint committees, is empowered to deliberate on administrative matters relating to the standing committee system. Its main responsibility is to apportion funds to standing committees from the money allocated for that purpose by the Board of Internal Economy. To this end, a global envelope in the amount of $4 million for the 2019-20 fiscal year, is available to committees for their activities.

The Reports on Committee Activities and Expenditures, which are usually prepared three times per fiscal year by the Liaison Committee, present cumulative financial information on committees’ expenditures and the work they are doing. When required, they also include information on special committees, which are funded by the Board of Internal Economy. They serve as essential reporting and accountability mechanisms, not only for activities, but also for the use of the resources at committees’ disposal. By summarizing and consolidating statistics regarding the number of meetings, meeting hours, reports and witnesses for each committee, these reports, presented in a format intended to help readers better understand the work of committees, provide readers with a concise summary of committee mandates, activities and expenditures. Finally, they complement other reports and disclosure tools available to Canadians on the Board of Internal Economy website.

Due to the 43rd federal election period that fell during this fiscal year, exceptionally, the present report will cover only two periods: from April 1, 2019 to September 11, 2019 (dissolution of Parliament) and from December 5, 2019 (opening of Parliament) to March 31, 2020. During this period, a total of 601 committee meetings were held, 2,426 witnesses were heard and 123 reports were presented to the House.

Of particular interest for this reporting period, on May 30, 2019, the Liaison Committee agreed that the Chair write to the Board of Internal Economy (BOIE) to request: (a) that it consider making funding available to implement increased video broadcasting of committee meetings; and (b) that it consider the mechanisms to seek the approval of the House required to modify the existing broadcasting guidelines. At its meeting on June 13, 2019, the BOIE approved to use part of the budget attributed for Committees for this fiscal year to fund the temporary operating budget request for 2019-2020 for $1.5M for initial operating and equipment costs related to the webcasting of committee meetings initiative. The surplus in the budget attributed to Committees was utilized to fund these initial costs. On June 19, 2019, the House adopted a motion modifying the broadcasting guidelines to include webcasting of meetings. During this reporting period, 17 committee meetings were webcast. In future reports, the number of webcast meetings will be reported, for each committee, in the table “Meetings, Witnesses and Reports” as is currently the case for the number of televised meetings.

We hope this report provides helpful and concise information on the activities of committees, thus giving a better sense of their important work on behalf of Canadians.

For further information, please contact the Liaison Committee at LIAI@parl.gc.ca.