Thank you, Mr. Chair. I am pleased to be here today to present a request, on behalf of the Speakers of the Senate and the House of Commons, concerning the budget for parliamentary exchanges. Joining me this morning is Ms. Marie-Ève Belzile, the principal clerk for parliamentary exchanges and protocol.
Parliamentary exchanges enhance Canada's ties with other countries and facilitate the sharing of ideas, knowledge, experience and Canadian values. Such activities include visits abroad by Speakers, generally accompanied by a delegation of members or senators, as well as visits to Canada by foreign Speakers. The envelope for parliamentary exchanges also supports the parliamentary officers’ study program, which promotes the understanding of legislative institutions by offering a professional development opportunity to officials from existing and emerging legislative institutions.
During their visits abroad, the Speakers will generally meet not only with their counterparts but also with heads of state, heads of government, ministers and other parliamentarians. They afford an opportunity for all members of the delegation to promote Canadian interests from a parliamentary perspective.
Given our close co-operation with Global Affairs Canada, they also allow Canadian diplomatic missions abroad in the host countries to benefit from this prized access to senior decision-makers.
With pandemic restrictions coming to an end, diplomatic activities by parliamentarians resumed, and we noted a significant increase in overhead costs, as well as an increase in the number of requests for diplomatic activities in Canada and abroad. The current budget cannot keep pace with the level of parliamentary exchange activity.
The budget available for parliamentary exchanges has been roughly a million dollars for nearly 20 years. It has not been adjusted for inflation or recently soaring prices. The Speakers are therefore requesting a permanent increase to the budget to support the diplomatic work of parliamentarians in the promotion of democracy, good governance and the Canadian parliamentary system on the world stage.
The briefing note outlines the anticipated costs associated with activity levels for a typical fiscal year. Based on the expenses incurred since parliamentary exchanges resumed in earnest this fall, as can be seen in the table on page 3 of the note you have before you, at current cost levels a typical parliamentary exchanges program would far exceed the available funding, which explains today's request.
Therefore, the request before you is twofold. There's a request, first, for an adjustment for the remainder of this fiscal year, and a request for a permanent funding increase for the next fiscal and subsequent fiscal years.
As with all budgets for international and interparliamentary affairs, the budget for parliamentary exchanges is shared between the Senate and the House of Commons, according to the usual 30:70 ratio. I can inform you that the temporary increase for this fiscal year was approved by the equivalent of this committee at the Senate earlier today. The request for permanent funding is continuing through its main estimates process, which is currently under way.
I will stop there. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have.