Minutes

 

Meeting No. 146

March 25, 2015

 

The Joint Interparliamentary Council met this day at 3:32 p.m., in room 356-S of the Centre Block, the Honourable David Tkachuk, Senator, presiding.

Representing the Senate: Marjory LeBreton, David Tkachuk and Jim Munson, Senators.

Representing the House of Commons: Joe Comartin, Dave Mackenzie, Mark Adler for Ron Cannan, Frank Valeriote, Sadia Groguhé, MPs.

In attendance:
From the International and Interparliamentary Affairs Directorate:
Patrice Martin, Deputy Principal Clerk, Parliamentary Associations;
Danielle Labonté, Deputy Principal Clerk, Parliamentary Exchanges; and

Marie-Andrée Rainville, Manager, Resource Planning and Administration.

From the Senate:
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 Mr. Mackenzie, the minutes of the meeting of February 25, 2015 were approved.

2.    Supplementary Budget Request

The Council considered a request for additional funding from the Canadian NATO Parliamentary Association (NATO PA).

After debate, on motion of Mr. Mackenzie, it was agreed that the NATO PA be allotted an additional $15,000 in order to fund activities planned in the 2014-2015 fiscal year.

3.    Request from 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 March 12, 2015, regarding a request to have a single parliamentarian accompanied by a staff member on an outgoing activity.  The request concerned a mission to Madagascar, in April 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. Valeriote, the request was agreed to.

4.    Associations Budgets (2015-2016)

The Clerk provided an overview of a package containing information concerning budget requests, allocations and expenditures in previous fiscal years, as well as a number of options for the potential distribution of available funds.

After debate, it was agreed that the operational budgets for each association in 2015-2016 be as follows:

5.    Other Business

After debate, on motion of Mr. Mackenzie, it was agreed that, the provision which, pursuant to Section 2.2 of the Financial Management and Policy Guide for Parliamentary Associations, authorizes the Co-Chairs to advance up to $20,000 in funding to a parliamentary association in exceptional cases when the JIC is unable to meet, be modified to remove the limit and that the co-chairs be allowed to allocate money from the JIC reserve or reallocate money from one association to the next as needed, in order to take in consideration the upcoming election.

 

At 4:15 p.m., the Council adjourned to the call of the Co-Chairs.

 

 

 

 

Eric Janse

Clerk