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22 janvier 2020
HAMC Hansard
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HANSARD

 

NOVA SCOTIA HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY

MANAGEMENT COMMISSION

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

 

 

Committee Room

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Printed and Published by Nova Scotia Hansard Reporting Services

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY

MANAGEMENT COMMISSION

 

Hon. Kevin Murphy (Chair)

Hon. Geoff MacLellan

Hon. Gordon Wilson

Suzanne Lohnes-Croft

Rafah DiCostanzo

Allan MacMaster

Karla MacFarlane

Claudia Chender

Neil Ferguson, Chief Clerk of the House of Assembly

(Non-Voting Member)

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Attendance:

 

Speaker’s Office Adviser

Deborah Lusby

Director of Administration

Office of the Speaker

 

Annette Boucher

Assistant Clerk

House of Assembly

 

Gordon Hebb

Chief Legislative Counsel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

HALIFAX, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2020

 

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY MANAGEMENT COMMISSION

 

11:46 A.M.

 

CHAIR

Hon. Kevin Murphy

 

 

THE CHAIR: Order, please. We’ll call the House of Assembly Management Commission meeting for January 22, 2020, to order.

 

Just before we get into the agenda, we’ll go around the table starting on my left, and state your name and your position, please.

 

[The commission members introduced themselves.]

 

THE CHAIR: Welcome, everybody. All the materials were circulated in advance, so I guess our first order of business is to get approval of the agenda as presented.

 

Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.

 

The motion is carried.

 

The agenda is approved.

 

Item No. 1 is the approval of the minutes from September 19, 2019. Mr. Ferguson.

 

NEIL FERGUSON: The minutes have been circulated. They’re quite short as it was a brief meeting. I didn’t note any obvious errors, so a motion to approve the minutes would be in order.

 

THE CHAIR: Can we have a motion? Moved by Mr. MacLellan; seconded by Ms. DiCostanzo.

 

Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.

 

The motion is carried.

 

The minutes are approved, thank you.

 

We’ll move on to Item No. 2, the financials for the second and third quarter for this fiscal year. We’ll turn that over to Ms. Lusby.

 

DEBORAH LUSBY: As the Speaker has indicated, the second- and third-quarter financials are included. There are notes identifying any comments, and if you have any questions on these, I’d be happy to entertain them today or at a future time.

 

THE CHAIR: Are there any questions? Do we have a motion to accept those? They’re just for information. Okay.

 

We’ll move on to Item No. 3, the approval of the 2019 Audit Committee Annual Report as approved by the Audit Committee on January 21, 2020. Mr. Ferguson.

 

NEIL FERGUSON: The report was approved by the Audit Committee at its meeting yesterday and is included, so it’s open to the commission to approve it by a motion.

 

THE CHAIR: Are there any questions or comments? Okay, I’ll have a motion for approval of that report. Moved by Mr. MacMaster; seconded by Mr. MacLellan.

 

Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.

 

The motion is carried.

 

We’ll move on to the approval of the 2019 House of Assembly Management Commission Annual Report. Ms. Boucher.

 

ANNETTE BOUCHER: The draft copy of the report was circulated to members in advance of the meeting. It contains the report of the Audit Committee that was approved yesterday, so it is current. Unless there are questions about the report - it’s very factual about the dates that meetings were held, what decisions took place, and the composition of the Audit Committee and the Management Commission. If there are questions, that would be great. If not, a motion would be required to approve this report and to direct the Speaker to table it in the House of Assembly when the House next sits.

 

THE CHAIR: Are there any questions? Barring questions, I’ll have a motion to accept the report as tabled - Mr. MacLellan; seconded by Ms. DiCostanzo.

 

Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.

 

The motion is carried.

 

Now we’ll move on to Item No. 4 on the agenda, the appointment of the Auditor General as auditors for 2019-20.

 

ANNETTE BOUCHER: Mr. Chair, yesterday at the Audit Committee meeting, the Audit Committee recommends to the Management Commission that the Auditor General be appointed as auditors pursuant to Subsection 22(2) of the House of Assembly Management Commission Act for the fiscal year 2019-20. That audit is now in progress, and it’s to March 31, 2020.

 

THE CHAIR: Are there any questions? Mr. Wilson.

 

HON. GORDON WILSON: I assume that we never stray from that. Why is it a process that you need to always appoint the Auditor General, who you would think would be the logical person to do the audit?

 

THE CHAIR: Good question.

 

GORDON WILSON: I know it’s probably a rule.

 

THE CHAIR: Ms. Boucher.

 

ANNETTE BOUCHER: It’s more than a rule. It’s statutorily required. Subsection 22(2) of the House of Assembly Management Commission Act, says: “The Commission shall, before the end of each fiscal year, upon the recommendation of the Audit Committee, appoint an auditor.”

 

There’s also the ability under the Act for the auditor to be the Auditor General or a private auditor, but the recommendation comes from the Audit Committee. Your Audit Committee is recommending in this case, as it has in a number of years past, that the Auditor General be the auditor for the House of Assembly.

 

GORDON WILSON: Okay, procedure, I guess.

 

THE CHAIR: Are there any other questions? We’ll have a motion to appoint the Auditor General as the auditor for fiscal year 2019-20. Moved by Ms. Chender; seconded by Mr. Gordon Wilson.

 

Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.

 

The motion is carried.

 

That concludes the regular part of the agenda. We’ll ask staff to leave, as we’re going to have an in camera session here to discuss a legal issue, and we’ll close the door.

 

[The commission adjourned at 11:53 a.m.]