SELECT STANDING COMMITTEE ON FINANCE AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
11:30 a.m.
Douglas Fir Committee Room
Parliament Buildings, Victoria
2008 Legislative Session: Fourth Session, 38th Parliament
SELECT STANDING COMMITTEE ON FINANCE AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES
MINUTES
AND HANSARD
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SELECT STANDING COMMITTEE ON FINANCE AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES
Wednesday, March 5, 2008 |
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Present: Bill Bennett, MLA (Convener); Robin Austin, MLA; Harry Bloy, MLA; Randy Hawes, MLA; Dave S. Hayer, MLA; John Horgan, MLA; Richard T. Lee, MLA; Diane Thorne, MLA
Unavoidably Absent: Iain Black, MLA; Bruce Ralston, MLA
1. There not yet being a Chair elected to serve the Committee, the meeting was called to order at 11:33 a.m. by the Clerk Assistant and Committee Clerk.
2. Resolved, that Bill Bennett, MLA be elected Chair of the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services. (Randy Hawes, MLA)
3. Resolved, that Bruce Ralston, MLA be elected Deputy Chair of the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services. (Dave Hayer, MLA)
4. The Committee reviewed the correspondence from Mr. David Loukidelis, Information and Privacy Commissioner.
5. Resolved, that the Committee endorse the application of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for an additional $75,000 for fiscal year 2007-08 to defray the costs incurred by his office with respect to legal proceedings. (Dave Hayer, MLA)
6. Resolved, that the foregoing motion shall represent the essence of the Committee’s Report to the House on the matter of supplementary funding to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, and that the Chair and Deputy Chair work with Committee staff to prepare the report to the House on behalf of the full Committee, and that upon approval by the Chair and Deputy Chair, this report be deemed adopted by the Committee, and presented to the House by the Chair at the earliest available opportunity. (Randy Hawes, MLA)
7. The Committee adjourned to the call of the Chair at 11:39 a.m.
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Bill Bennett, MLA Chair |
Kate Ryan-Lloyd |
The following electronic version is for informational purposes only.
The printed version remains the official version.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2008
Issue No. 69
ISSN 1499-4178
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| CONTENTS | ||
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| Election of Chair and Deputy Chair | 1705 | |
| Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner | 1705 | |
| Committee Report to the House | 1706 | |
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| Chair: | * Bill Bennett (East Kootenay L) |
| Deputy Chair: | Bruce Ralston (Surrey-Whalley NDP) |
| Members: |
Iain Black (Port Moody–Westwood L) * Harry Bloy (Burquitlam L) * Randy Hawes (Maple Ridge–Mission L) * Dave S. Hayer (Surrey-Tynehead L) * Richard T. Lee (Burnaby North L) * Robin Austin (Skeena NDP) * John Horgan (Malahat–Juan de Fuca NDP) * Diane Thorne (Coquitlam-Maillardville NDP) * denotes member present |
| Clerk: | Kate Ryan-Lloyd |
| Committee Staff: | Jonathan Fershau (Committee Research Analyst) |
| Josie Schofield (Committee Research Analyst) | |
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[ Page 1705 ]
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2008
The committee met at 11:33 a.m.
Election of Chair and Deputy Chair
K. Ryan-Lloyd (Clerk Assistant and Committee Clerk): Good morning, everyone. Welcome to this first meeting of the Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services for the fourth session. As there has not yet been a member elected to the position of Chair, I hereby open the floor to nominations to that position.
R. Hawes: I move Bill Bennett.
K. Ryan-Lloyd (Committee Clerk): Mr. Hawes nominates Mr. Bennett. Are there any further nominations?
J. Horgan: I nominate the member for Malahat–Juan de Fuca.
K. Ryan-Lloyd (Committee Clerk): Mr. Horgan nominates the member for Malahat–Juan de Fuca. Are there any further nominations? Are there any further nominations? I have two nominations for the position of Chair at the present time. I will put the….
J. Horgan: I withdraw the nomination for the member for Malahat–Juan de Fuca. In light of the able job that the member for East Kootenay did last session, I'm sure he'll be an able and capable Chair.
K. Ryan-Lloyd (Committee Clerk): The record will show that there is currently just one nomination for the position of Chair. Seeing no further nominations, I'll put the question.
Motion approved.
[B. Bennett in the chair.]
B. Bennett (Chair): Thank you very much. It is a great honour. I mean that sincerely.
I would entertain motions for the appointment of Deputy Chair.
D. Hayer: I nominate Bruce Ralston for Deputy Chair.
B. Bennett (Chair): Any further nominations for Deputy Chair?
Motion approved.
B. Bennett (Chair): Members, I must say that other than a couple of meetings late in the game, I think it was, for the most part, a very respectful and even bipartisan effort for this committee. I think we got lots of good work done. I think there were lots of our recommendations adopted in the provincial budget.
[1135]
We'll try and have as successful a year again this year. Hopefully, we will end it on a more positive note than perhaps it was ended on last year.
Office of the
Information and Privacy Commissioner
B. Bennett (Chair): There is, in my opinion, at least one piece of business that we can deal with here today. We tried to give you notice of that yesterday. It's been the practice of this committee in the past for statutory officers to come back in a fiscal year and say: "I've been asked to do certain kinds of work that were not contemplated by the budget that we presented to you last year. Can I have additional funds to take care of that unexpected work?"
That's what the Privacy Commissioner has done here. I think this is the third time that the Privacy Commissioner has done this with this committee. I spoke with the Ministry of Finance about this, and the Ministry of Finance indicates that the $75,000 requested by the Privacy Commissioner is available in this fiscal year's contingency funds. There isn't any need for anything to happen in the House. This can be done strictly from contingency funds, and as I understand it, it's not an unusual request.
So my question to the committee is: do you want to deal with this today by motion, or do you want us to set a separate meeting to have a more fulsome discussion on it?
D. Hayer: Why don't we deal with it by motion?
J. Horgan: We've seen this, we've reviewed it, and we're prepared to get it done quickly. The Privacy Commissioner has extraordinary expenses, and we anticipated that. If we've got the moneys available, we should just proceed.
B. Bennett (Chair): Okay. Thank you, Members. The Clerk is handing out the wording for two motions that I'll need a couple of members to make, starting with the first motion, after you've had a chance to look at it.
J. Horgan: I don't suppose it would be a friendly amendment to add the reference to legal proceedings with respect to examining Mr. Ken Dobell. That's probably not necessary.
B. Bennett (Chair): I would think that that detail would not be required for the motion, John.
J. Horgan: Fair enough.
D. Hayer: I will move the first motion: that the committee endorse the application of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for an additional $75,000 for fiscal year 2007-08 to defray the costs incurred by his office with respect to legal proceedings.
B. Bennett (Chair): Thank you, Dave Hayer.
Any discussion on that?
[ Page 1706 ]
R. Austin: I'll second that motion.
B. Bennett (Chair): I don't think we need seconders on this committee for our motions.
Motion approved.
Committee Report to the House
B. Bennett (Chair): After members have had an opportunity to read this second, longer motion, if somebody could make that, with or without amendments.
R. Hawes: So moved.
B. Bennett (Chair): Moved by Randy Hawes, motion 2: that the foregoing motion shall represent the essence of the committee's report to the House in the matter of supplementary funding to the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner; that the Chair and Deputy Chair work with committee staff to prepare their report to the House on behalf of the full committee; and that upon approval by the Chair and the Deputy Chair, this report be deemed adopted by the committee and presented to the House by the Chair at the earliest available opportunity.
Any discussion?
Motion approved.
B. Bennett (Chair): Any additional business? Move to adjourn?
The committee adjourned at 11:39 a.m.
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