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Results: 1 - 15 of 161
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Fujarczuk, welcome. Welcome to Parliament. I share my colleagues' views that your resumé, your experience, is impressive. We're lucky that somebody of your experience was interested in assuming what I'm sure you'll find at some points is a nightmare function.
I note that in 1975 you graduated from St. Michael's College at the University of Toronto. A decade later, I got my first choice of colleges and I went to Trinity.
A voice: Oh, oh.
Hon. Dominic LeBlanc: I'm glad to see you're a U of T grad.
I wanted to follow up perhaps on Mr. Cullen's questions. I had a brief experience in the private practice of law in New Brunswick, and I've often wondered about people who work as legal advisers in a context as complicated and as treacherous as Parliament or the House of Commons. You'll have people asking you, and I hope in good faith, for legal advice or a legal opinion with perhaps completely contradictory objectives. They're hoping you'll say that such-and-such is possible, or such-and-such is not, or that something is wise or is unwise.
On the exact same issue, probably more than any other function...and I was trying to imagine a large crown corporation like AECL or an organization like the National Capital Commission, which, as you correctly noted, at various times on various issues becomes politicized, often around different development initiatives, different policies, or decisions they make obviously in this city.
In my experience as a parliamentarian...and it's different, to be fair, in a minority context than in a majority context, where there's a bit more predictability, both in committee deliberations and in votes of the House itself. But one thing that I was struck by, albeit in the minority context of either Mr. Martin's or Mr. Harper's government before 2011, was the ability of parliamentarians or committees to get access to information.
This is not in the context of the legislation, of the statute, but to be able to dig out or tease out particular information from governments or in some cases from other parliamentarians. The Senate process that may be undertaken in the coming weeks will again sort of touch on this idea of the ability of people to get information that people claim as parliamentary privilege or, in the solicitor-client context, as solicitor-client privilege.
In your experience, either at the NCC or at...and you'll forgive me if I don't understand the extent to which access to information applies to the National Capital Commission or to AECL. I see in your resumé that you were involved in the access to information and privacy context, so I assume it fully applies to the NCC.
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View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Sure, and there would be the normal protections of commercial or business information.
From your experience, maybe in private practice, how do you balance out...? I think I'd be curious to see, if we had you come back in a couple of years, whether the impressions you had after two weeks were the same as your impressions after two years. My sense is that one of the functions of parliamentarians is to get access to information, not in the statutory context, although that is one of the instruments, but to be able to represent their constituents or speak in Parliament based on facts and information that often, for contradictory reasons, a particular institution or a particular government may not want to be so transparent in giving.
I'm wondering if you had any experience in your practice with dealing with the decision to advise somebody to disclose something or not, based on statute or on perhaps a litigation context that you saw either coming down the line or before you.
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View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
It does. Thank you very much.
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View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to thank Mr. Dion and Ms. Mourani. We have quite an obvious contradiction before us. There are two quite different viewpoints.
My question is for Mr. Dion.
Earlier you said that we could ask you a question on the future of Cartierville and on integration with the new electoral district. I am therefore asking that question right now in order to give you the opportunity to answer it. However, before concluding this discussion, do you have any reaction to Ms. Mourani's comments? Is there anything you would like to add to what she proposes in the few minutes we have left?
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View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
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View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and my thanks to you, Mr. Speaker, Madame O'Brien, and Mr. Watters.
I agree with my colleague Mr. Cullen. I think the board and you, Mr. Speaker, with your senior officials, have found the right balance to respect the expenditure reductions that Parliament and the government asked of other departments or agencies of government.
I think the House of Commons had to be prepared to do its share. I think you've done it well. You've found the right balance of administrative costs, asking members also to see where we can reduce our expenses. At the same time, you've preserved the essential importance of being able to serve our constituents and fulfill our responsibilities.
When you're dealing with parliamentary budgets, you're dealing with some of the biggest egos in the government. You've found a very good way to do that, Mr. Speaker. You're an austerity Speaker, but you haven't become an austere Speaker.
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View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
I wanted to pick up on Nathan's comments.
I want to compliment you and the senior staff, Mr. Speaker. I think you've done this well and in a collegial way. I know that my colleague who sits on the Board of Internal Economy has found it very constructive.
I don't have any questions, but when I listened to your discussion of the page program, I realized it's a neat idea the board has come up with to try to assist these young women and men with the high cost of tuition. That's a great idea.
Let's also think about the parliamentary guide program, not necessarily in terms of their salaries, as many of them are summer jobs or part-time jobs. I think they're some of the best and brightest bilingual people around. They can show Canadians their Parliament, and make them appreciate the role of the House of Commons and the work we do, together with the Senate.
My question is not about their remuneration. This is anecdotal from my riding, but perhaps it extends to other colleagues as well. I'm finding I have schools that want to come. They all want to come in June, when the weather is nice and they can organize bus trips. A number of schools from New Brunswick want to come to visit Parliament—often grade 8 classes—and they're trying to book visits depending on the bus schedules. Six or seven months before they come, they're told that, unfortunately, there's no space available. It's not possible for them to get a guided tour at that time.
I recognize it's a function of the size of the hallways and the traffic that has to be managed when people come through the building. Is it a function of the physical space of the building and the sequence of the tours, or could the problem be alleviated? I just feel bad for these students who want to come and are told in November or December that it's not possible during a certain window of time. Mr. Speaker, I'm wondering if it's a function of not having enough tour guides.
The practical reality is that you're going to get members of Parliament showing groups through themselves. You're going to find members of Parliament, me included, who are going to be trying to shepherd around 40 kids. We are not trained to do this and lack the information the guides would have. Your security personnel won't like the chaos this will cause.
Recognizing the physical limitations of the buildings, is there a way we can increase the staff available or extend the hours of the tours? I just find it unfortunate: they come to Ottawa and they see Sparks Street, but they can't get into the building for a proper guided tour. They are stuck with somebody like me trying to drag them into the library and through the lobby, which isn't the ideal way for them to appreciate Parliament.
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View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Mr. Speaker, I would be grateful if in some conversation with the librarian—
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View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
—or perhaps Madame O'Brien.... I just hope that we've made every effort to accommodate the maximum number of people and haven't fallen into some bureaucratic thing where at 6 o'clock we close down some door.
I just want to try to maximize the chance people have to see Parliament.
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View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
That to me is a worthy expenditure, if you're paying some student a few more hours a day or hiring a few more students.
Anyway, if somebody has a chance with the librarian or the appropriate authorities, I would be interested to know that we're doing everything we can to maximize that. That's all.
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View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
Thank you.
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View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
The only reason I say that, Mr. Chairman, is that the Sergeant-at-Arms is from Miramichi, New Brunswick, and people in Miramichi, New Brunswick, are up way after midnight, so yes, I would be quite sure that the Sergeant-at-Arms would probably be awake at midnight and happy himself to conduct some tours. I see him nodding in the back of the room.
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View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
And if we're lucky, maybe we could have an all-night voting again this spring.
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View Dominic LeBlanc Profile
Lib. (NB)
[Inaudible—Editor]
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