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Board of Internal Economy meeting

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Meeting Minutes

Monday, October 27, 2014

A meeting of the Board of Internal Economy of the House of Commons was held on Monday, October 27, 2014 at 11:15 a.m., in Room 340-S, Centre Block.

In the Chair: The Honourable Andrew Scheer, Speaker of the House of Commons

Present: The Honourables Peter Van Loan, John Duncan, and Dominic LeBlanc; Mrs. Stella Ambler; Mrs. Nycole Turmel; Mr. Philip Toone

Acting Secretary to the Board: Marc Bosc, Acting Clerk of the House of Commons

Also Present: Patrick McDonell, Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms and Director of Security Services; Richard Denis, Deputy Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel; Pierre Parent, Chief Human Resources Officer; Mark Watters, Chief Financial Officer; Robin Kells, Secretariat

New Member of the Board

Pursuant to subsections 50(2) and (5) of the Parliament of Canada Act , Stella Ambler (October 2, 2014) was sworn in as member of the Board .

Minutes of Previous Meeting

The minutes of the meeting of September 29, 2014 were adopted with an amendment and approved for tabling.

Business Arising from Previous Meeting

The Board reviewed and discussed correspondence distributed since its last meeting.

Ratification

Members By-Law

The Board ratified an amendment to the Members By-Law that would allow Members who have resigned to be reimbursed for one return trip between Ottawa and the constituency if taken within 30 days of the effective date of resignation.

Communicating with Constituents

The Board ratified the change to the policy on Web sites and Domain Names that would allow municipal, provincial and federal Web sites to be referenced in any communication from a Member.

Security

The Board was briefed on security issues and agreed that some new measures would be implemented immediately and others will be studied at future meetings. The Board agreed to the proposal to arm all uniformed House of Commons Security Services personnel.

Board members adopted a proposal recommended by the Sub-Committee on Security on the unification of the Senate Protective Service and the House of Commons Security Services, for discussion with the Senate.

Members’ Allowances and Services

Requests for Exception – Previous fiscal year expenses - survey

In keeping with the Board’s policies on the treatment of year-end expenses, the Board denied requests from two Members for the reimbursement of survey expenses incurred as a charge against their 2013-2014 Member’s Office Budgets; the expense would therefore remain as a charge against the current year’s budget.

Requests for Exception – Travel Status Expenses Account (TSEA)

In keeping with the Board’s policies restricting budget transfers, the Board denied a Member’s request to transfer a portion of the unused allocation of the 2013-2014 TSEA to the 2014-2015 Member’s Office Budget.

The Board also denied the reimbursement of any claims pertaining to the 2013-2014 fiscal year since year-end deadlines had passed when expenses were submitted.

Research Office Employees at Dissolution

The Board agreed to continue its discussion at the next meeting.

Report on Remedies by Members

The Board was briefed on several corrective measures that have been taken following reviews conducted by the House Administration.

The meeting was adjourned.

Marc Bosc
Acting Secretary to the Board