Minutes

The Joint Interparliamentary Council met this day at 3:34 p.m., in room 356-S of the Centre Block, Mr. Joe Comartin, MP, presiding.

Representing the Senate:  Jim Munson, Vernon White for Marjory Lebreton, and Betty E. Unger for David Tkachuk, Senators.

Representing the House of Commons:  Joe Comartin, Dave Mackenzie, Sadia Groguhé, Randy Hoback and Kevin Lamoureux, MPs.

Others present:

Chairs and Co-Chairs of Parliamentary Associations:
Hon. Raynell Andreychuk, Senator, Co-Chair of the Canada-Africa Parliamentary Association;
Hon. Mauril Bélanger, C.P., M.P., Co-Chair of the Canada-Africa Parliamentary Association;
Hon. Claudette Tardif, Senator, Chair of the Canada-France Interparliamentary Association;
Hon. Michel Rivard, Senator, Vice-Chair of the Canada-France Interparliamentary Association;
Mr. Randy Hoback, M.P., Chair of the Canadian Section of ParlAmericas;
Hon. Salma Ataullahjan, Senator, Chair of Canadian Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)
Mr. James Rajotte, M.P., Chair of the Canada-United Kingdom Inter-Parliamentary Association.

In attendance:

From the International and Interparliamentary Affairs Directorate: Patrice Martin, Deputy Principal Clerk, Parliamentary Associations; Marie-Andrée Rainville, Manager, Resource Planning and Administration.

From the Senate: Charles Robert, Clerk of the Senate and Clerk of the Parliaments Sloan Mask, Financial Advisor, Planning and Corporate Reporting, Finance and Procurement Directorate.

From the House of Commons: Naim Bellemare, Senior Financial Advisor, Policy and Financial Planning.

1. Approval of Minutes:

On motion of Dave Mackenzie, the minutes of the meeting of February 4, 2015 were approved.

2. Associations Budgets (2015-2016) – Presentations by Association Chairs/Co-Chairs:

Hon. Raynell Andreychuk, Senator and Hon. Mauril Bélanger, MP, co-chairs of the Canada-Africa Parliamentary Association, presented the work and planned activities of the association, as well as their related budget request for the 2015-2016 fiscal year, and answered questions from JIC members.

Hon. Claudette Tardif, Senator, and Hon. Michel Rivard, Senator, respectively Chair and Vice-Chair of the Canada-France Interparliamentary Association, presented the work and planned activities of the association, as well as their related budget request for the 2015-2016 fiscal year, and answered questions from JIC members.

Randy Hoback, MP, Chair of the Canadian Section of ParlAmericas, presented the work and planned activities of the association, as well as their related budget request for the 2015-2016 fiscal year, and answered questions from JIC members.

Hon. Salma Ataullahjan, Senator, Chair of the Canadian Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), presented the work and planned activities of the association, as well as their related budget request for the 2015-2016 fiscal year, and answered questions from JIC members.

James Rajotte, MP, President of the Executive Committee of the Canada-United Kingdom Inter-Parliamentary Association, presented the work and planned activities of the association, as well as their related budget request for the 2015-2016 fiscal year, and answered questions from JIC members.

3. Staff accompanying delegations of single parliamentarians – APF:

The Chair drew to the Council’s attention a letter received from the Chair of the Canadian Branch of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie (APF) on February 18, 2015, regarding a request to have a single parliamentarian accompanied by a staff member on an outgoing activity.  The request concerned a mission to Cambodia, March 2015.

After discussion, and in light of the fact that the APF demonstrated its compliance with the three criteria required by the JIC to grant exemptions for such requests, on motion of Mr. Mackenzie, the request was agreed to.

At 4:35 p.m., the Council adjourned to the call of the Co-Chairs.

Eric Janse

Clerk