The March 8 minutes cover the Commons Board of Internal Economy meetings on Nov. 5 and Nov. 26. On Nov. 5, the BOIE, which governs the House administration and approves spending, approved a total of $428,770,693 in main estimates for the House of Commons, which is a $17,164,340 decrease or a 3.85 per cent reduction, from last fiscal year.
This approximately $17-million decrease from the 2012-13 main estimates is being achieved as a result of reductions of about $9.4-million through the strategic and operating review for 2013-14; approximately $7.44-million through the 2012-13 strategic and operating review; $600,000 from decreased contributions to the MP Retirement Compensation Arrangements Account; $425,000 from the decreased contribution rate to Employee Benefit Plans, which dropped from 17.6 per cent to 17.4 per cent for 2013-14; and $5,000 from ending the annual accommodation allowances for the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, among other measures as detailed by the BOIE meeting minutes.
The BOIE is a seven-member, all-party committee chaired by House Speaker Andrew Scheer (Regina-Qu’Appelle, Sask.) and only allows two committee members to speak to the media about its decisions—currently they are Conservative MP and Chief Government Whip Gordon O’Connor (Carleton-Mississippi Mills, Ont.) and NDP Whip Nycole Turmel (Hull-Aylmer, Que.). Meeting minutes are tabled intermittently and are deliberately kept vague.
Also currently on the board is Government House Leader Peter Van Loan (York-Simcoe, Ont.), Conservative MP Rob Merrifield (Yellowhead, Alta.), NDP House Leader Nathan Cullen (Skeena-Bulkley Valley, B.C.), and Liberal Whip Judy Foote (Random-Burin-St.George’s, Nfld.).
On Nov. 5, the BOIE also approved changes to the House of Commons’ policy for MPs’ guest access to the members’ galleries in the Green Chamber.
“The way it worked up until recently…people would call up an MP’s staff and say, ‘I have one or two, three people, and we’d like to go into the [Members’] gallery, can we get passes?’ And I guess if [the office] felt they knew them, they’d give them the passes,” said Mr. O’Connor in an interview with The Hill Times. “What we’re doing now to change it… because people who go in there [the Members’ gallery] are sponsored by MPs, the MPs have to provide the names to the Sergeant-at-Arms before these people can go in, and it’s the Sergeant-at-Arms now who issues the passes for the individuals. In the past, MPs had passes on hand and they just handed them out.”
This change has been in effect since Feb. 4. As explained by an internal memo to MPs, MPs who want to reserve passes for their guests need to email the name (or names), date of visit and gallery area to be visited to the Sergeant-at-Arms’ Office. Once on the Hill, MP guests now pick up their passes at the security desk in the southwest corner of Centre Block’s rotunda and must present a photo ID.
Mr. O’Connor said the change is part of “slowly tightening up of security” in the House of Commons, but said right now the change is only in effect for the MPs’ galleries, located on both the government and opposition sides of the Chamber, but said eventually this new security regime will be extended to access to the other special galleries, though he said a timeline for this has yet to be determined.
“[The] most recent event that caused this was, I think a total of 12 individuals who got into the galleries, sponsored by two different MPs from two different parties, and they raised a ruckus in the House and, out of that, came a decision that we have to do something to tighten up security further,” Mr. O’Connor told The Hill Times. “When we checked with the MPs they didn’t even know that they had sponsored these people, they got the passes through their staff…I think people yelled out…they didn’t physically do anything, I mean I was here years ago and some lady threw paper over the side or something like that, but not this, people did a vocal protest.”
Mr. O’Connor said just as with every change, reaction from MPs to these changes has been mixed.
“Some people appreciate it and some people thought it was maybe too much bureaucracy, but we know that we have to keep tightening up security over time, but we’ve got to make sure that Canadians can always get to see their MPs,” said Mr. O’Connor.
At the same Nov. 5 meeting, the BOIE approved changes to the applications of the resettlement policy for former MPs, “as of the next general election.”
The resettlement policy, as set out in the Members’ Allowances and Services Manual, entitles MPs who are defeated or choose not to run again to claim up to $15,000 in resettlement provisions, such as re-employment counseling or training courses, for up to a year after the election. All expenses must be incurred in Canada and MPs can only claim expenses incurred within a year of leaving office and only upon presentation of their receipts.
Now, additional time limits have been imposed by the BOIE. The new deadline for MPs to seek reimbursement for any resettlement expenses is 15 months after a general election. Moreover, the BOIE has changed the policy to require former MPs to directly pay any educational institutions providing training or other allowed resettlement services and to be reimbursed later; and so long as course fees are paid for within a year after an election, the course itself can run after the 12-month period has ended.
“They can’t let it go on for ever and ever, so within 12 months following the election period the individual has to process their claim…some people apparently were stretching this on,” said Mr. O’Connor. “[The money is] basically to retrain, if you need to improve yourself, maybe even as simple as getting your resumé straightened up…but there may be cases where you have to take courses…or maybe you have some professional skill that you have to qualify. So it’s to help boost your ability to get a job.”
A total of 113 MPs retired or were defeated after the May 2, 2011 election, and all together they would have been eligible to claim a total of up to $1,695,000 in resettlement provisions.
A quick line from the Nov. 26 meeting minutes indicates that the “Board did not agree to pay legal fees incurred by a Member relating to an investigation made by Elections Canada.”
Elections Canada doesn’t comment on ongoing investigations, but media have reported that Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro (Peterborough, Ont.) and now former Conservative MP Peter Penashue—who was the MP for Labrador, Nfld. until he resigned on March 14 following news that his 2011 election campaign had accepted ineligible donations and exceeded its campaign spending limit—are both being investigated by Elections Canada. Mr. Del Mastro is also being investigated for 2011 federal election campaign expenses.
“No matter what topic, the board doesn’t always accept claims [to have legal fees covered], sometimes they reject claims because we have to make sure that what we pay is really has to be paid, and we try to minimize the amount of money we spend,” said Mr. O’Connor.
Original Article
Source: hilltimes.com
Author: LAURA RYCKEWAERT
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