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Strategic Objectives and
Major Initiatives
The House Administration has established four
strategic objectives to focus its efforts and guide
its activities during the 38th Parliament, and
has identified major initiatives to be undertaken in
support of each objective.
All political parties represented in the House of
Commons have expressed the need for parliamentary
reform. The House Administration is prepared to
support Members as they consider new ways of
conducting House business, engaging their
constituents, and bringing Parliament closer to
Canadians.
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Supporting the evolution of parliamentary
practices and rules: As Members review
their own roles and consider changes to their
rules for governing their deliberations, the
Administration will be ready to provide
procedural advice and guidance, presenting
options to achieve stated objectives.
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Ensuring a flexible technology
infrastructure: Ongoing investment in
infrastructure in new and existing parliamentary
buildings and better links to constituency
offices will ensure that Members will be able to
have quick access to the information they need,
regardless of where they are or when they seek
it. Televised proceedings of the House and
committees will be stored in digital format and
made available electronically.
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Improving Members' access to parliamentary
information: The Administration will
launch Today in the House, a Web site
providing Members and staff with a central access
point to information they require to follow House
and committee activities on any given day,
including the webcast of proceedings, daily
publications, information concerning bills and
links to a compendium of parliamentary procedure
an on-line reference work designed for a wide
range of audiences. A new system will
also be developed to allow Members to use
electronic communication to give notice of items
of House business, such as notices of motions,
amendments to bills and written questions.
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Involving Canadians in the parliamentary
process: Canadians will be given the
opportunity to sign, endorse and submit petitions
electronically using the Parliament of Canada Web
site. The Web sites of the House of Commons
committees will inform citizens about their work
and will be the platform from which committees
may undertake their consultations with
stakeholders on specific issues.
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Many of our resources are devoted to sustaining the
institution and improving our baseline
services. This requires balancing the
contemporary business requirements of Members and the
demand for public access to a national institution.
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Renovating the Parliament buildings:
The Long-Term Vision and Plan for renovating
Parliament's historic buildings and constructing
new facilities will be updated with the
assistance of Public Works and Government
Services Canada to address new realities, such as
the federal government's capital projects
restrictions announced in 2003, as well as
planning considerations that highlight
sustainability and mitigate security risks.
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Improving the information technology
services: The Administration will support
Members in their parliamentary activities by
upgrading technologies in the Chamber, enhancing
video-conferencing services, and equipping an
additional committee room to televise
proceedings. E-mail services for Members
will be enhanced, and new self-service tools for
information technology support will be provided
for Hill and constituency offices.
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Refining the business continuity and
resumption plan for the House of
Commons: Already ready to respond to
different levels of business interruption,
through the implementation of this plan, the
Administration will develop the capacity for the
House of Commons to relocate and operate in an
alternate location in the event of a catastrophic
event.
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The House Administration, through its procedural
seminars and publications, promotes an understanding
of our parliamentary institutions and the roles of
Members, thereby facilitating participation in
parliamentary proceedings. It will also
continue to share best practices with its
counterparts at home and abroad and to support the
development of existing and emerging legislative
institutions.
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Updating major publications on parliamentary
procedure: The Administration will
produce publications on parliamentary procedure,
including the second edition of the Annotated
Standing Orders and will proceed to the
planning and research for the second edition of
House of Commons Procedure and Practice
(Marleau-Montpetit).
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Providing learning opportunities for
parliamentarians and legislative officials from
jurisdictions in Canada and abroad: The
Parliament of Canada will prepare to host some
900 delegates to the annual meeting of the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly in 2006. A new
International and Interparliamentary Affairs Web
site will be launched, in conjunction with the
Senate Administration, and will include a
calendar of events and detailed information on
parliamentarians' international associations and
activities. The Parliamentary Officers
Study Program will be extended to member
countries of the Inter-Parliamentary Forum of the
Americas (FIPA).
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Sharing Parliament's heritage with
Canadians: The House of Commons'
Heritage Collection Web site, a virtual museum
for the House of Commons, will be launched.
It will provide authoritative information on the
Books of Remembrance, art works and heritage
artefacts at the House of Commons.
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Increased scrutiny of public institutions around the
world has focused attention on ensuring
accountability and transparency in our
workplace. We will continue to exercise
leadership, adopt best practices, and promote the
effective management and responsible stewardship of
our resources.
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Keeping the House of Commons secure:
The Administration will continue to innovate by
providing a modern security model that takes into
account Canadians' expectations for an open and
accessible Parliament. It will integrate
evolving security approaches, features and
technologies. Promoting security awareness
on the theme "Security is everyone's business"
will improve internal capacity to gather and
analyze security information and enhance
collaborative relationships with its
stakeholders.
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Strengthening House of Commons management
practices: The Administration will
continue to support good governance activities by
enhancing accountability measures and risk
management practices. We will
strengthen stewardship of resources by
undertaking financial attestation audits and
compliance audits, by enhancing our current
financial data repository by developing tools to
support electronic transactions and by continuing
implementation of the multi-year policy plan.
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Managing parliamentary information:
In 2002, the Parliamentary Information
Management Blueprint set out principles and
objectives for methodically managing information.
That approach has evolved so that the
Administration is now in a position to provide
leadership in the management of parliamentary
information and to collaborate with our partners
at the Senate and the Library of Parliament to
deliver meaningful information services, with the
goal of providing content through multiple
sources in ways that will allow Members to
quickly and easily glean what is important to
them.
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Managing information technology
assets: Information technology assets
need to be managed over their lifecycles,
including their procurement, use, location,
reliability, licenses, replacement and costs.
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Sustaining a motivated and effective
workforce: The Administration will meet
the challenge of demographics by continuing to
develop succession plans that ensure the right
people are recruited and retained in all
services. It will expand the development
and use of competency profiles and focus on
developing an inclusive and diversified
workforce. It will also promote wellness in
the workplace and offer employee assistance
programs that help in balancing work and family
life.
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Improving environmental management on the
Hill: The Administration, in
partnership with the Senate, the Library of
Parliament and Public Works and Government
Services Canada, will update its environmental
plan to reduce environmental risks on the Hill,
harmonize practices for green procurement, and
continue to improve managing the use of hazardous
and non-hazardous products and the search for
better ecological alternatives.
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