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Board of Internal Economy meeting

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Meeting Minutes

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

A meeting of the Board of Internal Economy of the House of Commons was held on Tuesday, June 2, 2015 at 10:30 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; Mr. Philip Toone; Mr. Peter Julian

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

Also Present: Patrick McDonell, Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms and Director General, Protective Service; Pierre Parent, Chief Human Resources Officer; Philippe Dufresne, Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel; Stéphan Aubé, Chief Information Officer; Benoit Giroux, Director General, Parliamentary Precinct Operations; Mark Watters, Chief Financial Officer; Robin Kells, Secretariat

Minutes of Previous Meeting

The Board asked that the minutes of the meeting of May 26, 2015 be amended and brought back for approval.

Emergency Notification System

The Board Members were briefed on the new Emergency Notification System that will enable both the Senate and the House of Commons to simultaneously reach all parliamentarians, employees and key personnel associated with parliamentary business via several means of communication in the event of an incident or an emergency in the Parliamentary Precinct or in satellite buildings by March 31, 2016.

Request for Exception

The Board approved a request from a Member to have his travel expenses incurred in fiscal year 2013-2014 as a charge against his 2015–2016 Member’s Office Budget.

Modernization of the Winding-Up Provisions

After discussion the Board approved the elimination of the winding-up provisions and that reasonable expenses, incurred in Canada within 30 days of a general election, can be charged to the Member’s Office Budget of Members who are not re-elected. These expenses must be presented to Finance Services within 90 days of the general election.

The Board also approved that Members who are not re-elected have access to up to an additional $12,000 for these expenses if there are insufficient funds in the former Members’ Member’s Office Budget. Section 56, 57 and 111 of the Members By-Law will be amended accordingly.

Purchase of Carbon Offsets for Travel

After discussion, and in view of the fact that supporting a third party organization is not an allowable use of House resources and would be deemed a donation as per section 6 of the Members By-law , the Board denied a Member’s request that the Board consider allowing the cost of carbon offsets for travel as an eligible expense against the Member’s Office Budget.

Use of House of Commons Facilities by Unions

The Board discussed the matter of the use of House of Commons facilities by unions and concluded that their use is in line with accepted practice.

The meeting was adjourned.

Marc Bosc
Acting Secretary to the Board