HANSARD
Printed and Published by Nova Scotia Hansard Reporting Services
STANDING COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES
Ms. Becky Kent (Chairman)
Mr. Gordon Gosse
Mr. Mat Whynott
Ms. Pam Birdsall
Mr. Jim Morton
Hon. Michel Samson
Ms. Kelly Regan
Hon. Christopher d'Entremont
Hon. Richard Hurlburt
In Attendance:
Ms. Jana Hodgson
Legislative Committee Clerk
WITNESSES
Executive Council Operations
Ms. Jeannine Lagasse, Executive Director
Ms. Ann Broughm, Cabinet Committee Coordinator
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HALIFAX, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2009
STANDING COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RESOURCES
9:00 A.M.
CHAIRMAN
Ms. Becky Kent
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Okay folks, I think we're ready to get things rolling so I'll call the meeting to order of the Standing Committee on Human Resources. I think for the record we could take some time to do introductions and allow each of us to introduce ourselves.
[The committee members introduced themselves.]
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Great, thank you very much. Our agenda is fairly light today. We're going to start with some presentations. We have Jeannine Lagasse and Ann Broughm here with us today so if the committee is agreeable, we'll all get started with that and then go right into board and commission appointments after that. So I'll ask you to take the floor.
MS. JEANNINE LAGASSE: Thank you very much, Chair. Thank you for inviting us to come here today. As the Chair has said, Ann Broughm and myself work at the Executive Council Office. Ann is really the main point of contact, administratively, with the departments for the agencies, boards and commissions appointments process. So we've just been asked to come here this morning to give you a brief overview of the process.
On the last page of the presentation sheets that you have, there is an address for the agencies, boards and commissions Web site which is on the Executive Council Office Web site. So if you're looking for more detail or if I refer to particular documents during the presentation, you can get everything there on that Web site, or you can feel free to contact Ann or myself after, if you're looking for further information.
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Really the process for non-adjudicative agencies, boards and commissions was established in a procedure manual that was approved by the Executive Council in August 2008. The procedure has existed for a considerable time longer than that, but there never was kind of a formalized document - the process all contained in one place - so in 2008, that process manual was established.
The first stage in the process is in February and August of each year. Our office contacts the departments and asks them which positions on their agencies, boards and commissions they would like to have advertised. Then the departments review their various lists, their vacancies, and then they notify Ms. Broughm as to which ones they would like to have advertised in the bulk ad.
Right now, as it says on the slide, usually in April and October of each year we have what we all bulk advertisements. There's certain advertising that's done in print in most of the dailies and some of the weeklies throughout the entire province. The majority of the information is on the Web site, as I've said, that's referred to in your presentation. Right now, we've been working on the bulk advertisement for the non-adjudicative agencies, boards and commissions. The main posting will be on Saturday, October 17th and any of the other dailies and weeklies that kind of surround that week. We also do a two- or three-week run on the cable station and that's an advertisement for both the adjudicative and the non-adjudicative ads. So we get about three weeks' worth of advertising out of the entire process.
There is no closing date for applications for non-adjudicative agencies, boards and commissions, so although we have our regular advertising times, we will accept applications at our office at any time during the year.
Applications are received at the Executive Council Office. An acknowledgement letter is sent to every applicant when an application is received and then the details of their application are entered into our internal database that we use to keep track of all applications received and appointments made to the ABCs.
Once that has been done at Executive Council Office, then the original applications are actually forwarded out to each of the departments for the minister responsible for each of the agencies, boards and commissions. The bulk of the review process is, in fact, usually done in the departments. The support work that supports the ministers responsible is done in their departments.
The departments are first of all responsible for establishing their screening panels. Screening panels are volunteers that are chosen by the minister and those individuals take each application and screen it against a set of education qualifications and other criteria that we have for a particular position. They screen all of the applications and then they provide a list of qualified candidates to the minister responsible. A list of all qualified candidates is
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provided to the minster. They are not ranked, they're generally provided in alphabetical order to the minister and they have a complete list of all names that are considered qualified.
The minister then makes his or her decisions as to who they would like to put forward for appointment to the ABC and then communicates those decisions back to the departmental staff who are then responsible for preparing the necessary documentation to complete the appointment.
Appointments can be made either by Order in Council, which would require that there be a report and recommendation to the Executive Council, and then ultimately the appointment document would be an Order in Council. There are also ministerial appointments, which are done on a ministerial appointment form. No matter how an appointment is concluded, either by Order in Council or ministerial appointment, all appointments are forwarded to the Executive Council for their review and/or approval of the appointment. It doesn't matter if they all come through the Executive Council Office.
Once they have been reviewed and approved by the Executive Council, then the majority of them are forwarded over to this committee for your review. When I say the majority of them - as House Rule 60 provides, the mandate of the committee is to review and approve or not approve appointments to agencies, boards and commissions for both Order in Council appointments or ministerial appointments where either the Governor in Council or the minister has the sole discretion in making the appointment.
The distinction there is that if, for instance, pursuant to the Statute, it says that a position is on the nomination of a particular group or organization and the minister doesn't have any discretion in choosing a name from a list, or anything like that, then those appointments do not come over to the committee. Those ones are automatically concluded once they have been reviewed or approved by the Executive Council.
In addition to that, the discretion part of the rule, there are also some exemptions that are contained in House Rule 60, other appointments that don't come here for review. I've just got the list up there on the screen, the first one being appointments of public or civil servants by virtue of their employment. So in certain Statutes there are certain positions. For instance, the Deputy Minister of Finance is a member of a couple of the agencies, boards and commissions and those positions wouldn't come here for your review also.
Candidates who are selected by an open competition and selection process or peer review, it kind of goes with the next one, the self-regulated bodies that have recommended them. Some of the agencies, boards and commissions have their own process for reviewing certain of the appointments so five of the appointments may be made in the discretion of the minister and two of them may be made through a process that has been gone through by the agency, board or commission to choose those particular people. So again, it really goes to whether or not there's discretion with the minister or the Governor in Council in making the
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appointment. Finally, candidates recommended for appointments to hospitals or universities where the candidate is recommended by the board of governors of that institution.
So other than that, unless there's one of those exemptions that fits, all of the other appointments would come through to the committee.
If the appointments are approved here at the committee, then the paperwork is completed at the Executive Council Office to issue the Order in Council or to conclude the ministerial appointments. If the appointment is not approved, then the paperwork is returned to the department and the process would start over again for that particular position.
Once the document has been completed - the Order in Council or the ministerial appointment - each of the departments prepares a letter for the minister responsible for the agency, board or commission to accompany that document to advise the individual of the appointment. Certain information is contained in that letter about who they can expect to be contacted from the board, different information that the department may think would be good for a new or returning board member.
Then the database in our office, at the Executive Council office, is updated to reflect that the appointment has been made. You'll see in the package of materials that the Committees Office has prepared for you, in the front of each set of appointments there is a chart that describes each of the boards that you're going to be considering today and then there's also a list of the existing board members. So that comes out of the database in the Executive Council Office, so it's an up-to-date record of all of the boards and the current memberships on them.
Once that's completed at the end of each month, Ms. Broughm is responsible for posting a listing to our Web site, the Executive Council Web site, of all appointments that have been made in that particular month. So anyone could go to the Web site at any given time, and we list it by month and they can just click on the particular month and they can see all of the appointments that were concluded in that particular month.
That's kind of the very high-level process, beginning to end. Like I said, all of the detail behind it can be found on the Web site and if any of the committee members have any questions, we'd be happy to take them.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Are there any questions? Mr. Samson.
HON. MICHEL SAMSON: Thank you very much, Jeannine, for your presentation. As you are well aware, we have a new government here in Nova Scotia. I'm just wondering if you could advise whether you've been instructed to undertake any changes to the current way that appointments are being made to agencies, boards and commissions here in Nova Scotia under the new government.
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[9:15 a.m.]
MS. LAGASSE: No instructions have been given in that regard.
MR. SAMSON: Thank you.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Are there any further questions? I just have a question regarding one of the appointments that we actually have before us today, and it could be relevant in the future too. There's one of them that has vacancies for employer/employee - let me just find it here - for the Workers' Compensation Board. I note that we have three employee appointments and three employer but, in fact, on the list that we have in our book there are not that many. There are only two employer vacancies, then there's a member and a member/chair position that are both vacant, so they're not adding up. I'm just wondering in that situation, is it . . .
MS. ANN BROUGHM: I thought we cross-checked against that, that we verified that, but we'll definitely check into it. We're pretty diligent in trying to make sure that the vacancies on the membership - somehow, something's not . . .
MADAM CHAIRMAN: The vacancies are there but when they're listed specifically as employer, there seems to be one extra employer. I'm not sure in that case what would be the proper procedure but we'll get to that, I guess.
MS. BROUGHM: Yes, we will follow up on that.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Thank you. Mr. Samson.
MR. SAMSON: I just had one more question, Madam Chairman. Jeannine, I'm wondering if you could confirm, the list of qualified applicants that's sent to the minister, are those made available to this committee?
MS. LAGASSE: No, they are not.
MR. SAMSON: If I'm not mistaken - and I believe my colleague here, the member for Argyle, might recall - when the member for Halifax Fairview was a member of this committee, that was one of his concerns, that the list of qualified applicants wasn't made available to the committee. That made it very difficult for us as a committee to be able to determine whether it was the best qualified individuals that were being put forward as recommendations by the ministers.
So based on that, Madam Chairman, could I make the motion that as Chair of this committee, you request from here forward that the list of qualified applicants sent to the
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minister be made available to this committee along with the final recommendation prior to decisions of approval being made by this committee. I would so move that motion.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Thank you for the motion, Mr. Samson. I think that at this point we would just like to take that back, with approval by the committee, for consideration.
MR. SAMSON: I've sat on these committees for quite some time and I believe that's the first time I've heard that request but in light of the fact when there's a motion made, the motion has to be dealt with.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Yes, exactly.
MR. SAMSON: So I move that the motion be dealt with now and not be . . .
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Okay, is there a further discussion on that? Do we need a seconder on those in this case? (Interruption)
I asked if there's any further discussion on that and if there's any objections to - Mr. Gosse.
MR. GORDON GOSSE: Thank you. My question is for the clerk. I'm just wondering, has this been a past practice, this motion as has been put forward, has this been done in the past?
MS. JANA HODGSON (Legislative Committee Clerk): The motions are regularly put forward before the committee and the motions are then voted on by the committee members and the members are free to vote either for or against the motion.
MR. GOSSE: I understand that but this motion that has been put forward, has this been done before in this committee?
MS. HODGSON: Not to my knowledge.
MR. GOSSE: Thank you.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Is there any further discussion on this? Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.
The motion is defeated.
MR. SAMSON: Madam Chairman, could I ask for a recorded vote on that? It was not clear how that vote went - if you could just poll the members.
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MADAM CHAIRMAN: Raise your hands in favour.
MR. SAMSON: With a recorded vote, Madam Chairman, if you could call out the members and then ask for them to vote.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Thank you, I appreciate the help. We'll catch onto this. I appreciate that.
MR. SAMSON: We're here to help.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: There is a request for a recorded vote on that issue.
A recorded vote has been called for. Are you ready for the question?
YEAS NAYS
Mr. Samson Mr. Gosse
Ms. Regan Mr. Whynott
Mr. d'Entremont Ms. Birdsall
Mr. Morton
MADAM CHAIRMAN: The honourable member for Yarmouth is absent and I, the member for Cole Harbour-Eastern Passage, vote Nay. (Interruptions) Oh, I don't have to cast a vote, okay.
For, 3. Against, 4.
The motion is defeated.
MR. SAMSON: Madam Chairman, in light of that motion, which I believe addressed some of the issues that have been raised by your colleagues on this committee in the past, the member for Halifax Fairview, who I believe has a number of years experience on this committee and has been quite vocal in concerns regarding the committee, may I make the motion that as Chair we request that the member for Halifax Fairview, who is now the Minister of Finance and Minister of Acadian Affairs, be asked to appear before the Human Resources Committee in order to share with us some of the concerns that he has raised in the past and some possible ways that we as a committee might be able to address some of those concerns and make some changes to the appointment process to better ensure issues such as transparency, gender equality, racial equality, and other issues which have been raised?
I would so move that the committee request that the Minister of Finance and Minister of Acadian Affairs appear before this committee whenever he might be available.
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MADAM CHAIRMAN: Thank you for the motion. Is there any further discussion on that? Hearing none, are you ready for the question?
Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.
The motion is defeated.
MS. KELLY REGAN: Could we have a recorded vote?
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Another recorded vote, certainly.
YEAS NAYS
Mr. Samson Mr. Gosse
Ms. Regan Mr. Whynott
Mr. d'Entremont Ms. Birdsall
Mr. Morton
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Again, the member for Yarmouth is absent.
For, 3. Against, 4.
The motion is defeated.
Having dealt with that we'll proceed with the further items on the agenda. Thank you very much, ladies, for attending. I should note to the members, as well, that we've had some additional people enter into the meeting. We have some media who have arrived. I'm not sure who this lady is over here. (Interruption) A researcher, okay.
We'll be proceeding now with agencies, boards and commissions. We each have a list here that we've all received with our package. If we can - apparently there have been occasions where they have been dealt with in lots, the entire list for departments or individually. Is there a sense among the committee of any preference to do it one way or the other?
MR. SAMSON: I'm sorry, we're not listening.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: No, I noticed that. (Laughter) I'm just saying that there have been two practices, apparently, in the past, that I'm happy to have open for consideration which is to deal with them in groups, in the cases where there is more than one appointee, and we can proceed in that regard and single them out if there is requirement; or we can do them individually, I guess. So I guess at this point, if there's general agreement - sorry, Mr. Samson.
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MR. SAMSON: I think just for the record, Madam Chairman, it's important for anyone looking back and wondering how these votes went, what we've traditionally done is, as Chair, you call out the name of the department and the actual commission and then a member would move the names. Then we would move on to the next one. It's more for record purposes so that if anyone is looking back, the names are all there.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Yes, that's what I was suggesting but I was just saying that we don't have to do every single motion.
MR. SAMSON: Yes.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Yes, I'm on the same page. Okay, well, then let's proceed with that. We're moving on to appointments of boards and commissions. We'll start with the Crop and Livestock Insurance Commission. There are two members. Mr. Whynott.
MR. MAT WHYNOTT: Madam Chairman, to the Crop and Livestock Insurance Commission of Nova Scotia, I so move Greg Coldwell and R. Michael Walsh as members.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.
The motion is carried.
The Veterinary Medical Association Council of Nova Scotia. Ms. Birdsall.
MS. PAM BIRDSALL: Madam Chairman, I so move that Glenis Sullivan's name be put forward for this council.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.
The motion is carried.
Under the Department of Community Services we have the Disabled Persons Commission. Mr. Gosse.
MR. GOSSE: I so move for the Disabled Persons Commission: Brian P. Tapper, William (Bill) Crawford, Shanta Dhir, Ralph D. Ferguson, Marcie Shwery-Stanley and H. Jane Warren.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Any further questions?
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MR. SAMSON: Just for the record, Madam Chairman, you might want to confirm that Brian Tapper is being put forward as chair.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Thank you, I was just about to do that, Mr. Samson. Is there an indication of chair?
MR. GOSSE: I so move Brian P. Tapper as chair/member of the Disabled Persons Commission.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.
The motion is carried.
The Round Table on Early Childhood Development. Mr. Morton.
MR. JIM MORTON: Madam Chairman, for the Early Childhood Development Round Table, I so move Anne Moses as chair/member of the committee.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.
The motion is carried.
Under the Department of Education, the Acadia University Foundation. Mr. Whynott.
MR. WHYNOTT: Madam Chairman, to the Acadia University Foundation, I so move Henry R. Hicks and John MacFarlane as members.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.
The motion is carried.
The Council on African-Canadian Education. Mr. Gosse.
MR. GOSSE: Madam Chairman, for the African-Canadian Council, I so move Patricia Barton, Archy Beals, Marilyn Brannan, Rev. William (Bill) Crawford, Rev. Tracey R. Grosse, Karen Hudson, Brian Johnston, Tracey Jones-Grant, Sheila Lucas-Cole, Samuel Moreau, Leslie Oliver, Charles Sheppard, and Rose Stevenson-Davidson.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Mr. Gosse, within your motion would you have an interest in indicating who the members-at-large are?
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MR. GOSSE: The members-at-large are Archy Beals, Marilyn Brannan, Brian Johnston, and Rose Stevenson-Davidson.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.
The motion is carried.
Under the Library Boards - Cape Breton Regional. Ms. Birdsall.
MS. BIRDSALL: Madam Chairman, to the Cape Breton Regional Library Board, I so move Tom Urbaniak as a member.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.
The motion is carried.
The Cumberland Regional Library Board. Mr. Morton.
MR. MORTON: Madam Chairman, to the Cumberland Regional Library Board, I so move Ralph G. Welton as a member.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.
The motion is carried.
The Halifax Regional Library Board. Mr. Whynott.
MR. WHYNOTT: Madam Chairman, to the Halifax Regional Library Board, I so move Roswell James and Paul McNair as members.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.
The motion is carried.
The Pictou/Antigonish Regional Library Board. Mr. Gosse.
MR. GOSSE: Madam Chairman, to the Pictou/Antigonish Regional Library Board, I so move Conrad Poirier.
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MADAM CHAIRMAN: Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.
The motion is carried.
Under the Department of Finance, the Credit Union Deposit Insurance Corporation of Nova Scotia. Ms. Birdsall.
MS. BIRDSALL: Madam Chairman, to the Credit Union Deposit Insurance Corporation of Nova Scotia, I so move Camille Maillet as a member.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.
The motion is carried.
Under the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, the Fisheries and Aquaculture Loan Board. Ms. Birdsall.
[9:30 a.m.]
MS. BIRDSALL: Madam Chairman, to the Fisheries and Aquaculture Loan Board, I so move Edmond Aucoin and Peter Burnie as members.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.
The motion is carried.
Under the Department of Justice, we have the Police Advisory Boards. Mr. Whynott - do the list.
MR. SAMSON: Yes, do all of them.
HON. CHRISTOPHER D'ENTREMONT: Madam Chairman, I wouldn't mind nominating my candidate, the candidate from my riding.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Yes, no problem. Which one are you?
MR. D'ENTREMONT: Yarmouth - the last one.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Okay. Mr. Whynott.
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MR. WHYNOTT: Madam Chairman, I so move the following as members of the Police Advisory Boards: for the Municipality of Digby, Angela Jean Lombard; for the Municipality of Kings, Jonathan Campbell; for Stewiacke, Roger Blair Miller; and for the Town of Windsor, Timothy Porter.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.
The motion is carried.
The Yarmouth and Argyle Police Advisory Board. Mr. d'Entremont.
MR. D'ENTREMONT: Madam Chairman, to the Yarmouth and Argyle Police Advisory Board, I so move Paul Earl Muise as a member.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.
The motion is carried.
I'm just wondering on this one - this is the one I found where there seems to be an extra (Interruption)
Okay, we'll proceed on to the Department of Labour and Workforce Development, the Workers' Compensation Board. Although we had a question that staff would look into, I think we'll proceed with making these nominations - moving these along. Then any consideration of what position, I guess, they would have outside of employer/employee will be dealt with at a later date, if everyone is in favour of that.
So the Workers' Compensation Board. Mr. Morton.
MR. MORTON: Madam Chairman, to the Workers' Compensation Board, I so move as employer representatives: John Amirault, Janet Hazelton, Andrew Holley, Mary Lloyd, Deborah A. Ryan, and David W. Thomson.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Okay, in fact these motions would require - they're not quite in the same order as all employer. There are three employer and then three employee . . .
MR. MORTON: I didn't read it carefully enough, Madam Chairman.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: That's okay, so perhaps we can start that again.
MR. MORTON: Could I do that again?
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MADAM CHAIRMAN: Yes, if everybody is okay with that.
MR. MORTON: Madam Chairman, to the Workers' Compensation Board, I so move John Amirault as an employer representative, Janet Hazelton as an employee representative, Andrew Holley as an employer representative, Mary Lloyd as an employee representative, Deborah A. Ryan as an employee representative, and David W. Thomson as an employer representative.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Thank you. Is there any further discussion on that?
Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.
The motion is carried.
The final one is under the Department of Tourism, Culture and Heritage, the Public Archives Board of Trustees. Ms. Birdsall.
MS. BIRDSALL: Madam Chairman, I so move that Dr. Henry Roper be put forward for the Public Archives Board of Trustees as a member.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Would all those in favour of the motion please say Aye. Contrary minded, Nay.
The motion is carried.
Thank you very much, folks. Continuing on with our agenda, which is Committee Business. I just want to go over a couple of past committee practices that we want to get some consideration on from our members - committee meeting dates in particular. We want to be sure that everyone is aware that the regular scheduled meeting for this committee is the last Tuesday of every month, from 9:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m., with one exception, which traditionally has been the Christmas meeting. Probably in October - next month - we would give some consideration to a couple of different dates that we would all agree on.
The other is that this is, to our understanding, the only committee of the House that meets all year long, which would also include summer months. So we are mandated to meet during that time.
It's been the practice of this committee, as well, to deal only with appointments to agencies, boards and commissions, and when we're in the House - as opposed to having witnesses while we're sitting in the House and our schedules are hectic and it's just a different pace entirely, there would be no witness presentations traditionally. Also, it's an understanding that during the summer months and the month of December there would also be no presentations to the committee.
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I want to open the floor to any consideration or discussion around that if, in fact, there's anyone who has anything else to offer or would like to change anything related to that at this point - something that we can reconsider at a later date if we find the mandate of the committee is something that is going to be reconsidered.
Any further discussion on any of that? Okay, if not, then for the record we'll continue with those practices.
The other committee practice is the attendance of Mr. Gordon Hebb, our Legislative Counsel, at our meetings. It has been the practice to invite Mr. Hebb to every committee meeting, to provide legal advice as required. Again, I'm not experienced enough to have a sense of whether or not that's traditionally a good practice. It makes sense to me, particularly in the early stages of this for us, a new government with a lot of new members. So again, I just want to open the floor to anyone who has any comments about that practice of having him here at every meeting, or a representative from his office, I guess. Mr. Samson.
MR. SAMSON: It has been a good practice when issues have been raised and have been able to be dealt with, for the most part, on the spot rather than being referred, being that the committee meets only once a month. It allows for timely decisions to be made rather than delayed for a month before decisions are taken. So I would recommend that we continue that practice.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Any further comments on that? Okay, so I guess the understanding is that we will continue with that practice.
The last thing on our list, of course, is our next meeting which we would cover off each month. Our next meeting is October 27th - sorry, Mr. D'Entremont.
MR. D'ENTREMONT: I was just wondering, I'm trying my best to get rid of the paper in my life and to make sure that a lot of this is provided electronically and in PDF format. I can't read WPD, which is WordPerfect, I refuse to use it. So if PDFs could come, I would really appreciate that.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Okay, thank you, we'll make a note of that. I appreciate that, thank you. Certainly as time goes on, if we all (Interruption) Yes, they are, and as issues like this come along, please feel free to bring them forward. Sometimes it doesn't take a committee meeting to bring that to our attention, because we want to make as useful and efficient use of our time as possible.
So October 27th is our meeting, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., and that will be appointments to agencies, boards and commissions only.
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I did neglect, at the beginning of the meeting, to introduce Jana Hodgson. For those who have not met her before, she is a great asset to us here. I'm not sure who the other staff people are. Jana, if you could take a moment to introduce them, I would appreciate that, so the other members would know.
MS. HODGSON: The lady sitting over there is Rhonda Neatt and she is with Hansard. Hansard, of course, records the meetings and we have a written transcript from them. Behind the glass is Mr. Paul Read and he makes sure that all of the microphones are working and that we get a clear recording of the meeting. The other two people present in the corner are members of the media. If media is present, that's where they usually sit. We have one other lady in the room, right behind you, and I understand she is from the Liberal caucus, a researcher, Tara Gault.
These meetings are open to the public, so on occasion you may see people you are not familiar with who come to the meeting and observe the proceedings.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, I appreciate that, Jana, that's terrific. Mr. Samson.
MR. SAMSON: Madam Chairman, could I request that the members of the committee be given a copy of the bulk ad that's supposed to go out on October 17th, whenever it's ready, rather than having to see it in the newspaper. It would be nice if we could actually receive it first.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: I think that's a good practice, sure. Is that okay?
MR. SAMSON: The other thing I would ask, Madam Chairman, is if you could request that Executive Council provide us with an updated list of the members of the committees who have already been approved, when their renewal dates are coming forward, as well any vacancies that currently exist on the agencies, boards and commissions here in the province. That has been done before, and I know it's a bit of work but it's extremely useful to members to have that information.
MADAM CHAIRMAN: Thank you, I will take that back to the Executive Council. Anything further?
If not, I will adjourn the meeting. We stand adjourned.
[The committee adjourned at 9:40 a.m.]
