July 12, 2023 House of Assembly Management Commission No. 91
The Management Commission met at 9:30 a.m. in the HOA Committee Room.
SPEAKER (Bennett): Good morning, everyone.
I'm going to start by calling this meeting to order.
Before we begin, I'd first like to welcome our new Member to the Management Commission, MHA Stoyles, the Member for Mount Pearl North.
Also, I'm going to ask all Members and staff to introduce themselves. We'll start with Minister Dempster, if you want to start first, as you're remote.
L. DEMPSTER: Thank you.
Good morning, everyone, it's Lisa Dempster, MHA for Cartwright - L'Anse au Clair.
B. WARR: Good morning, Brian Warr, MHA, Baie Verte - Green Bay.
B. PETTEN: Good morning, Barry Petten, MHA, Conception Bay South.
K. HAWLEY GEORGE: Kim Hawley George, Clerk Assistant, Law Clerk.
B. RUSSELL: Bobbi Russell, Policy and Communications Officer.
L. STOYLES: Lucy Stoyles, MHA, Mount Pearl North.
J. HOGAN: John Hogan, MHA, Windsor Lake.
CLERK (Barnes): Sandra Barnes, Clerk.
SPEAKER: Thank you very much.
So we'll get started. We have two agenda items this morning; the first item as it relates to the Audit Committee of the House of Assembly. For the people viewing and for new Members, the composition of the Committee is outlined in section 23(2) of the House of Assembly Accountability, Integrity and Administration Act. This states that: “The audit committee shall consist of (a) 2 members of the commission chosen by the commission, at least one shall not be a member of the government party; and (b) 2 persons, chosen by the Chief Justice of the province, who are not members but are residents in the province, and have demonstrated knowledge and experience in financial matters and are suitable to represent the public interest.”
Plus, there are two members of the public currently serving on the Audit Committee and they are Beverley Evans and Deborah Collis. The other member serving on the Committee, as appointed by the Committee previously, is the Member for Bonavista.
As everyone knows, there have been some recent changes in the composition of the Management Commission and that has created a vacancy on our Audit Committee. The Member for Burin - Grand Bank, who was a member of the Committee, has now been replaced by the Member for Mount Pearl North.
Further to subsection 23(3) of HOAAIAA states that “The commission shall designate the chair of the audit committee from among the members of the committee.” As the Member for Burin - Grand Bank was also the Chair, the Committee will also need to designate a new Chair to that Committee.
There is another matter outlined in your briefing notes for the Commission's attention as it relates to HOAAIAA as provisions for the Audit Committee. The act prescribes that the Chair must be designated by the Commission and does not include the provision for a Vice-Chair. As such, the Audit Committee is unable to meet when the vacancy of Chair exists.
So if the Commission wishes to direct the House, after this meeting, to conduct research and analysis and bring back some future recommendation to a meeting, then we'll do that too.
I'm going to open up the floor for any questions or comments regarding the process or the appointment of a Member to the Audit Committee.
Are there any questions or anything?
J. HOGAN: Typically, are there names that are put forward at this meeting or can we come back with names? I guess that's my question.
SPEAKER: Yeah, we can put forward a name today. It has to be a Member from our Commission here today.
J. HOGAN: It has to be a Member from this Management Commission?
SPEAKER: Yes, and MHA Pardy is also a current Member.
J. HOGAN: Okay and it was MHA Pike?
CLERK: It was.
SPEAKER: Correct.
J. HOGAN: Okay.
SPEAKER: Do we have a recommendation?
J. HOGAN: It has to be someone from here, does it?
SPEAKER: Correct. The Member that's appointed today doesn't have to necessarily be the Chair of the Committee. We can appoint one of the other – MHA Pardy can be appointed as Chair.
J. HOGAN: Can we just maybe, myself, MHA Dempster and MHA Stoyles, have a quick chat before we go in camera?
SPEAKER: Sure.
J. HOGAN: Then we just come back to it?
SPEAKER: Yeah, we can do that; that's no problem.
J. HOGAN: Thanks.
I'm going to ask this: How often does the Audit Committee meet?
SPEAKER: Kim, do you want to …?
K. HAWLEY GEORGE: Yeah. I'm the secretary to the Audit Committee and the guide says at least four times a year. One of the main jobs of the Audit Committee is to review the annual financial audit and the management certification. Then there are other very practical matters. But certainly the two external members of the Committee are certified professional accountants and they have a lot of expertise in that area to assist as well. So I just bring that to your attention.
SPEAKER: Any other questions or comments? If not, we'll defer that item and go back to it after we discuss the next couple of items.
The next item is just for reporting purposes and it's regarding the budget transfers report for the 2021-22 fiscal year.
The reports detailing the financial performance to the Legislature – as required by HOAAIAA – were presented to the Management Commission at its June 14, 2023 meeting. Since that time, adjustments were made to the accounts of the Legislature by the Office of the Comptroller General, which changed the revenue and expenditures for the period ending March 31, 2023. The revenue associated with repayment of excess constituency allowances resulting from judgments of the court in the mid-2000s has always been administrated by the Department of Finance, although it appears in the accounts of the Legislature.
A revised statement of revenue and expenditure for the Legislature, excluding the Auditor General, for the 12-month period ending March 31, 2023, is attached and reflecting those adjustments.
Basically this is only for information purposes and transparency. I will open the floor.
Sandra.
CLERK: Just for everybody's information, it was in the Members' resources activity and the statements that you looked at in the last meeting. The revenue was $10,648 and then the Comptroller General adjusted it to $14,306. So that's the adjustment. But they administer that account so it was I guess an error they picked up when they looked at it.
SPEAKER: Does any Committee Member have any questions as it relates to this item? As I said, it's only for recording purposes only.
Seeing none, we're going to take a short recess. We'll come back after.
Recess
SPEAKER: Okay, we're back to live so we're going to reconvene to item 1 as it relates to appointment of the Member to the Audit Committee. So I'd like to call for a motion who would like to be appointed.
J. HOGAN: I move to appoint MHA Dempster.
L. STOYLES: Seconded.
SPEAKER: So we have moved by Minister Hogan, seconded by MHA Stoyles, that Minister Dempster would be appointed to the Committee.
All those in favour, 'aye.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.
SPEAKER: All those against, 'nay.'
Motion carried.
Secondly to that there, we also need to appoint a Chairperson for the Committee and that could be either of the two Members that are sitting on the Committee.
Can I call for a motion?
J. HOGAN: I move that MHA Dempster Chair the Committee.
L. STOYLES: Seconded.
SPEAKER: It is moved by Minister Hogan, seconded by MHA Stoyles, that Minister Dempster would serve as the Chair of the Audit Committee.
All those in favour, 'aye.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.
SPEAKER: All those against, 'nay.'
Motion carried.
Also with that, as discussed regarding the Vice-Chair position, is it the consensus of the Committee that we would ask staff to go back and do more research on that just in case a situation like this happens again that the Chair is not available for any reason and then the Committee can still do their work?
AN HON. MEMBER: Okay.
SPEAKER: Okay, good. Thank you very much.
So that concludes our broadcast session of this meeting. We will now go back into a short recess.
I want to thank everyone and thank those that are viewing through our broadcast.
Thank you.
The Speaker recessed the meeting to transition to an in camera session.