Senator Marwah: Thank you, Senator Batters. I think that’s a fair question, but I think we’ve heard time and time again in this chamber that the bottleneck is not technicians; it’s not broadcasting services or clerks or capacity. The bottleneck is translation and interpretation services. We did increase capacity last year. We hired one more — I think it’s called an MMS technician, with which the House of Commons helped us. We hired one which allowed us to go from two simultaneous virtual meetings to three. Beyond that, there was no point in hiring additional technicians or increasing other capacity because we couldn’t get additional interpretation services. That is the bottleneck, Senator Batters. If that is resolved, other capacity can be increased. Otherwise we’ll be increasing and spending money for no benefit.

Hon. Sabi Marwah: Thank you, senator, for that question. I don’t think it is really a double standard. I don’t think you can compare doing an exercise workout to sitting in the Senate Chamber or in the hallways. There you are going through an exercise. You are exhaling. And it’s also recommended that masking should be required unless you can keep the two-metre distancing. The change rooms all have mandatory masking. All of the aspects of the gym are mandatory masking, except when you are exercising. I think that’s an appropriate application of the guidelines.

Hon. Sabi Marwah: Thank you for the question. To be honest, I would much prefer if you go back to asking questions of Senator Gold.

I did read the news about Motion No. 11 and Motion No. 35 and, I must say, I had the same questions as you did.

When the Translation Bureau came to us last week, they made it very clear that there was a finite amount of capacity in terms of translation services, and there was no way they could increase it in the short term. With that as background, if the House decides to sit for a longer period of time, that increase has to be offset somewhere, Senator Plett. It has to come from somewhere. At this stage, I am hopeful it will not affect the Senate sittings, but I am not so hopeful that it will not affect committee meetings.

We have written to the CEO of the Translation Bureau, and among the many other questions we have asked her, I will reference two: We want to know their assessment of the impact the House of Commons’ Motion No. 11 will have on simultaneous interpretation services the Translation Bureau provides to the Senate and its committees, and, secondly, more specifically, with the House of Commons likely sitting longer hours, will this cause a reduction in simultaneous interpretation for the Senate, or will the resources be reallocated from the resources already provided to the House?

As soon as I get a response, Senator Plett, I will let you know.

Senator Marwah: Thank you, Senator Plett. I don’t know exactly how those two motions will impact Senate committee times, but I doubt it will result in increased capacity. If anything, it is going to go the other way.

I still think there are some actions that the Senate can take to increase Senate committee time, and I mentioned that in my comments at the Senate Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration that I circulated to everybody last week. Some of the suggestions recommended that some committees be authorized to meet while the Senate is sitting, consider resuming the early morning committee time slots and possibly changing schedules so we can do things like rise early on Tuesdays.

Those decisions are not within the purview of Internal Economy. They are really within the purview of the leaders, the Selection Committee and the Senate as a whole.