The House and its Members / The House of Commons Chamber

Access to the galleries: allegations of interference of the executive branch in the workings of the House

April 17, 2018

Debates, p. 18440

On February 28, 2018, Luc Berthold (Mégantic—L’Érable) rose on a point of order regarding guest access to the galleries on budget day. Mr. Berthold complained that, on the day of the budget presentation, the manager of his constituency office was unable to secure either an access card from an official from the Department of Finance or access to the gallery as all the seats, including those reserved for opposition members, were booked by the Minister of Finance. Mr. Berthold noted that, despite many seats remaining unfilled, his guest was denied access by the Parliamentary Protective Service; he therefore had to excuse himself from the proceedings of the House to accompany his guest to the gallery, where she was finally granted access. He alleged that these actions constituted interference by the executive branch in the workings of the House. After hearing from other members, the Speaker took the matter under advisement.^[1]

Resolution

On April 17, 2018, the Speaker delivered his ruling. He confirmed that, as per usual practice, the Minister of Finance was allocated additional, but not all, seats in the galleries for budget day. The Speaker expressed concern that the information transmitted by the Parliamentary Protective Service was inaccurate, even though the proper information had been made available to all those concerned. He assured members that he remained committed to working with the office of the Sergeant-at-Arms and the Parliamentary Protective Service to improve communication between the various services and to devise solutions to avoid such occurrences in the future.

Decision of the Chair

The Speaker: I am now prepared to rule on the point of order raised on February 28, 2018, by the member for Mégantic—L’Érable concerning access to the galleries on budget day.

I would like to thank the member for Mégantic—L’Érable for having raised this matter as well as the members for Chilliwack—Hope, Berthier—Maskinongé, and Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères for their remarks.

In raising the matter, the member for Mégantic—L’Érable put forward the information that on budget day, the Minister of Finance had booked all seats in the galleries, including those reserved for opposition members, therefore leaving the manager of his constituency office unable to secure either an access card from a finance department official or access to a gallery. Then, despite many seats in all galleries ultimately being unfilled on that day, he explained that his guest was again denied access by Parliamentary Protective Service, as she was without a pass from the Department of Finance. Stating that access to the galleries is the responsibility of the Speaker, and not the Department of Finance, he believed that this constituted interference by the executive branch in the administrative responsibilities of the House.

The Sergeant-at-Arms’ Office provided me with details on the procedures for gallery access on budget day as well as the sequence of events in this particular case, for which I thank them. As members are aware, there is a long-standing tradition that the Minister of Finance is allocated extra seats on budget day in the south gallery and the diplomatic gallery by way of a request submitted to the Sergeant-at-Arms’ Office. This year, this request was submitted and extra seats were allocated, as per the usual practice. As for the north gallery, a portion of it can also be provided to the government on budget day. That being said, seats remain available for overflow from other galleries, and extra seating can be requested by opposition parties. On budget day, only a portion of the north gallery was reserved by the Department of Finance.

Thus, as the galleries were evidently not reserved entirely for guests of the Minister of Finance, the situation as described by the member for Mégantic—L’Érable was unfortunate, particularly when there was ample seating available. It is also troubling to the Chair that the information that his guest received from various Parliamentary Protective Service employees was inaccurate.

As Speaker, I have been assured that, on the morning of February 27th, the budget day, representatives from Parliamentary Protective Service and the Sergeant-at-Arms’ Office met to discuss the events of the day, including the seating plan, as per usual practice. While the appropriate information was made available to all concerned, it appears that it was not transmitted properly by Parliamentary Protective Service to the guest of the Member for Mégantic—L’Érable. The member’s frustration is understandable as this miscommunication led to his guest being repeatedly refused access until he took it upon himself to escort her to the galleries.

As Speaker, I have responsibility for administrative matters, including the galleries, and I am committed to ensuring that guests from all sides of this House be allowed to attend our proceedings. I will continue to work with the Sergeant-at-Arms’ office and the Parliamentary Protective Service so that communications between the various services are improved and solutions are put forward to prevent these kinds of incidents in the future.

I thank all hon. members for their attention.