The sixth meeting of the House of Assembly Management Commission was held in Committee Room 1, Dennis Building, on Tuesday, March 29th, 2011 at 1:30 p.m.
Present were all of the members of the Commission, namely: Ms Becky Kent, Hon. Frank Corbett, Ms Pam Birdsall, Mr Maurice Smith, Hon. Manning MacDonald, Mr Andrew Younger, Hon. Chris d'Entremont, Mr Neil Ferguson (Chief Clerk) and Hon. Gordie Gosse, who acted as Chair. Also present was Gordon Hebb, Q.C., Counsel to the Commission, and Deborah Lusby, Director of Administration, Office of the Speaker.
1) It was moved by Hon. Corbett and seconded by Mr Smith, that the Minutes of the January 11, 2011, meeting be approved. CARRIED.
2) Caucus funding
The issue of caucus funding was raised in light of changes in caucus member numbers during the transition period (January 1, 2011 to March 31, 2011). The resolution below, proposing a change to the House of Assembly Management Commission Fiscal Year Transition Regulations, was moved by Mr Younger and seconded by Hon. MacDonald:
Be it resolved that, Section 6 of the House of Assembly Management Commission Fiscal Year Transition Regulations be amended by striking Section 6 and substituting:
6 (1) For the purpose of Section 33 of the Commission Regulations, the transition period shall be considered to be one year, and the amounts payable with respect to the transition period in that Section shall be one fourth of the amount provided for.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection 33(2) of the Commission Regulations, where a caucus office has gained a member during the transition period, the caucus office does not receive funding for that member until April 1, 2011.
There was much discussion on this resolution. Mr Younger indicated that this resolution would result in the Liberal caucus not taking additional funding for the new member they gained during the transition period for the transition period, however, effective April 1, 2011 until the end of the fiscal year on March 31, 2012, their caucus would receive the funding for the new caucus member. Hon. MacDonald stated that on April 1, 2011, a new fiscal year was starting and the Liberal caucus would have 13 members and that with this resolution they would receive the funding for 13 members for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012. Mr Smith indicated that he understood the Liberal caucus to have publically stated that although they gained a new member during the transition period they would forgo the additional funding for that member until April 1, 2012. Hon. d'Entremont indicated that his understanding was the same as that stated by Mr Smith. Mr Younger concluded the discussion by stating that the Liberal caucus had been clear that they would forgo the additional funding for the member they gained for the three month transition period only and that the caucus would receive the funding for the additional member on April 1, 2011, the beginning of the new fiscal year. The motion was DEFEATED.
By way of clarification, Mr Ferguson indicated that if there was no amendment to Section 6 of the House of Assembly Management Commission Fiscal Year Transition Regulations, the effect would be as follows: a) effective the date the Liberal caucus gained the new member, it would receive additional caucus funding for that member, b) the Progressive Conservative caucus would continue receiving the lost member funding from the date they lost the member until March 31, 2012, and c) the New Democratic caucus would continue to receive funding until March 31, 2011 for the member who was named to the cabinet and the member who became speaker in January 2011.
Mr Smith moved the following amendment to the House of Assembly Management Commission Fiscal Year Transition Regulations, and Ms Birdsall seconded the motion:
Be it resolved that, Section 6 of the House of Assembly Management Commission Fiscal Year Transition Regulations be amended by:
a) adding "(1)" immediately after the Section number; and
b) adding the following subsections:
(2) Where a caucus office of a recognized party has lost a caucus member during the transition period, the caucus office does not receive funding for that member on or after April 1, 2011.
(3) Where a caucus office of a recognized party has gained a caucus member during the transition period, the caucus office does not receive funding for that member until April 1, 2012.
There was discussion on this motion. Mr Smith explained that the effect of this amendment would be where any recognized party gained a new caucus member during the transition period there would be not additional funding to the caucus for that member until April 1, 2012. In addition where a recognized party lost a caucus member during the transition period, the caucus would lose the funding attached to the member for the fiscal year April 1, 2011 to March 31, 2012. The motion was CARRIED.
Hon. d'Entremont indicated that he wished to move the following two amendments to the House of Assembly Management Commission Fiscal Year Transition Regulations and to the House of Assembly Management Commission Regulations:
Be it resolved that, Section 6 of the House of Assembly Management Commission Fiscal Year Transition Regulations be amended by striking Section 6 and substituting:
6 (1) For the purpose of Section 33 of the Commission Regulations, the transition period shall be considered to be one year, and the amounts payable with respect to the transition period in that Section shall be one fourth of the amount provided for.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection 33(2) of the Commission Regulations, where a caucus office has gained a member during the transition period, the caucus office may decline funding for that member for the 2011-2012 fiscal year.
AND
Be it resolved that, subsection 33(2) of the House of Assembly Management Commission Regulations is amended by striking out "and a pro-rated proportion of $45,657.00 for the remainder of the year for each additional member of the Caucus gained during the year."
A short discussion took place, however, his motion was not seconded and thus Hon. d'Entremont withdrew the motion.
3) It was moved by Hon. d'Entremeont that the meeting be adjourned. CARRIED
The meeting adjourned at 2:05 p.m.
These Minutes were approved by the Management Commission on April 27, 2011.
Certified
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Speaker
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Chief Clerk
