Minutes

The Joint Interparliamentary Council met this day at 4:07 p.m., in room 356-S of the Centre Block, the Honourable David Tkachuk, Senator, presiding.

Representing the Senate:  Hon. David Tkachuk, and Carolyn Stewart Olsen, Senators.

Representing the House of Commons:  Andrew Scheer, Marcel Proulx, Mario Laframboise, Chris Charlton and Leon Benoit MPs.

In attendance:

From the International and Interparliamentary Affairs Directorate: Ian McDonald, Deputy Principal Clerk, Parliamentary Associations; Gérald Lafrenière, Deputy Principal Clerk, Parliamentary Exchanges; and Marie-Andrée Rainville, Manager, Finance and Administration.

From the Senate: Julie Pilon, Manager, Financial Policy, Planning and Corporate Reporting, Finance and Procurement Directorate.

From the House of Commons: Céline Laflamme, Manager Financial Planning, Policy and Financial Planning; Gilles Larocque, Senior Financial Advisor, Policy and Financial Planning; and Henriette Labonté, Senior Financial Advisor Policy and Financial Planning.

1. Approval of Minutes:

On motion of Ms. Charlton, the minutes of the meeting of March 9, 2011 were approved.

2. Supplementary Budget Request from APF:

At the request of the Chair, the Clerk gave a brief update on the APF request considered by the Council at its meeting of March 2, 2011, for additional funds related to the costs of an upcoming seminar taking place in Burkina Faso on the subject of legislation targeting violence against girls and women for the parliamentary of West and Central African countries.

After further information became available regarding the Association’s financial situation, it was determined that only a small amount of funds were missing to allow the participation of both the Senator and the Association Secretary, without a need to use the funds previously set aside by the JIC to ensure the Senator’s participation.  Therefore, at the request of the Chair of the Canadian Branch of the APF, the Co-Chairs, pursuant to Section 3.5 of the Financial Management and Policy Guide for Parliamentary Associations, agreed to authorize up to $1000 for this activity in order to ensure the association has sufficient funds to participate in this seminar.

After discussion, it was agreed, to ratify the budget allocation made by the JIC Co‑Chairs.

3. Association Budgets (2011-2012):

The JIC proceeded to meet in camera.  Following the presentations of all Associations with regards to their budget requests for the 2011-2012 fiscal year during the past two meetings of the Council, at the request of the Chair, the Clerk provided an overview of a number of options with regards to the potential distribution of available funds.

After discussion, it was agreed that operational funds be distributed to associations according to funding option number three (reproduced below), based on budgets for planned activities up to September 30, 2011.

4. APF Conference (2013):

At the request of the Chair, the Clerk gave a brief overview of the request from the Executive Committee of the Canadian Branch of the APF to host the APF international conference in Ottawa in July 2013.  The Clerk also briefed the JIC on the related resource and timing considerations associated to this request.

After discussion, the Council agreed that, as the request for the conference was for July 2013, an additional conference of this size at that time would create a significant additional workload on the limited resources supporting parliamentary conferences in Canada, especially as these are the same resources which will be fully engaged in support of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference, hosted by the Canadian Parliament in Québec City, in October 2012.  Accordingly, the Council, through the Co-Chairs, will inform the Executive Committee of the Canadian Branch of the APF that it supports, in principle, that the Canadian Parliament host this conference in July 2014, subject to the usual business case being presented first to the JIC and then to both Internal Economies at an appropriate time in the future.

The JIC further agreed that the estimated $406,500 budget should be absorbed as part of the JIC envelope for the 2014-2015 fiscal year.

5. Per diem Travel Advances:

At the request of the Chair, the Clerk gave a brief overview of a document provided in the briefing book which detailed a suggested policy change with regards to per diem allowances in advance of activities related to Parliamentary Associations.

After discussion, it was agreed, that the standard practice for all associations is that travel advances are no longer issued to delegates in advance of Parliamentary Association activities.

6. Other Business:

At the request of the Chair, the Clerk gave a brief overview of a document distributed at the meeting which detailed a suggested policy change with regards to a revised process for the Executive Committees of Parliamentary Associations to deal with motions considered via email.

After discussion, on motion of Mr. Benoit, it was agreed, that the current practice by which decisions are taken by Association Executive Committees, when required via email, be modified in the following way:

• for votes done by email, a clear yes or no vote will be required on the part of the Executive Committee member stating if they are for or against the proposed motion;

• in order for a decision to be taken, a decision cannot simply be arrived at by a majority of positive votes cast, it must be done according to the quorum rules of the association.  For example, the number required for quorum is the minimum number of votes required for a decision to be taken and, as per the constitution of the association, should require the participation of at least one Executive Committee member from each House;

• sufficient time needs to be given for each motion to be considered and to allow Executive Committee members to vote, a minimum of 1 work day (a full 24 hours) shall be given, 48 hours or greater is preferable, when time permits;

• an insufficient number of email responses would de facto be considered a lack of quorum and therefore the motion could not be considered (the motion would therefore be deemed withdrawn due to a lack of votes);

• votes received after the deadline stated in the motion would not be accepted;

• following the results of the vote, the Association Secretary will announce via email the results of the email vote to the Executive Committee;

• any votes taken in this manner shall be included in the next minutes of proceedings of the Executive Committee under the heading: “Decisions taken by electronic means since the last Executive Committee Meeting of (date)”.  The motions considered and the results of the vote, including the manner in which each Executive Committee member voted with regards to the motion, shall be included in order to have a formal record of the decision.

At 4:19 p.m., the Council adjourned to the call of the Co-Chairs.

Eric Janse

Clerk