Hon. Sabi Marwah moved the adoption of the report.

He said: Honourable senators, this report deals with the Senate’s budget for 2022-23. In summary, the anticipated budget is $121.8 million, which is $6.2 million or 5.4% over the 2021‑22 budget. However, this includes $2.6 million related to retroactive salary economic increases and $800,000 for the reinstatement of committee budgets to pre-pandemic levels. Without these two large items, the year-over-year increase is much lower at 2.5%.

As background on the process of arriving at the budget, it is based on the recommendations of the Subcommittee on the Senate Estimates. The subcommittee is comprised of Senator Moncion, chair; Senator Marshall, deputy chair; and Senators Bovey, Saint-Germain and Tannas. I thank them for the substantial time and effort they have spent on reviewing the budget.

The members of the subcommittee met with the Senate Administration, the executive committee and the majority of directors on many occasions. Detailed presentations were made by the directorates to the subcommittee. The members had the opportunity to discuss and question funding requirements throughout the process.

Throughout its consideration of the Main Estimates, the committee took into consideration not only changes in the Senate but also the effects of the pandemic on the Senate’s operations. The committee was also very mindful of the Canadian economic environment and the importance of balancing operational needs with proper stewardship of public funds.

As a result, the Main Estimates have been prepared with prudence to ensure that the level of Senate spending remains stable without compromising service to senators.

Moving to the details of expenditures, I would remind senators that there are two parts to the budget. One is statutory funding, and the other is the voted funding.

The statutory portion deals with money allocated by legislation. This includes senators’ basic and additional allowances and pensions, senators’ travel and living expenses, telecommunications and employee benefit plans. Any shortfalls in these categories at the end of the year are covered by the Treasury Board. Conversely, surpluses are automatically returned to the Treasury Board as they cannot be reassigned.

The second part of the budget is a voted budget which is for the workings of the Senate. They cover senators’ office budgets and Senate administration. Moving briefly to the numbers, the total amount of the statutory budget is $37.3 million, an increase of $0.8 million or 2.2% from last year.

The main reason for the small increase is the senators’ basic and additional allowances and pensions, which are increasing by around $568,000 to reflect the increases that have been in place since April 1, 2021, and approved by legislation.

The other major increases are the living expenses budget, increased by $101,000, and the contribution of the employee benefit plan, which rose by $165,000. These were partly offset by the telecommunications budget, which was reduced by $32,000 thanks to a collective effort to reduce the number of land lines.

Moving to the second part of the voted budget, this portion is $84.5 million, an increase of $5.5 million, or 6.9% over the previous year. As mentioned earlier, while this looks large, it includes retroactive salary increases from 2019 to 2021 of $2.6 million and the reinstatement of the committee budgets to pre‑pandemic levels.

Excluding these two large items, the year-over-year increase is much lower at $2 million, or 2.6%.

The major components of the voted budget are: the overall senators’ offices budget, which increased by $484,000, or 2%; the Senate committees budget, which rose by $810,000 to the funding levels that existed before the pandemic; the International and Inter-Parliamentary Affairs Directorate, which increased by $329,000 to cover the cost of the fourth annual session of the Assemblée Parlementaire de la Francophonie; and an increase of $176,000 for the Indigenous Youth Internship Program, which is expected to begin for the first time in the upcoming year.

Finally, the administration rose by $3.6 million primarily due to four major items: $2.6 million for retroactive economic increases from prior years; $360,000 for nonrecurring savings that were achieved in 2021-22; new funding requests of $521,000 mainly for additional software licences and operational expenses including in IT; and $145,000 mainly to cover position reclassifications.

From a staffing standpoint, the budget includes a net increase of 6.5 positions. This is from 3.3 additional full-time equivalents for the International Aboriginal Youth Internships initiative and 3.2 positions for administration.

To conclude, I would once again like to thank the committee for their extensive work. They deserve a lot of credit.

A lot of credit also goes to Senate Administration and the executive committee, they approached the budget in a very thoughtful and prudent manner. I recommend that we adopt the report.

Thank you, colleagues.

[Translation]