Hon. Lucie Moncion: Thank you for the question, Senator Dupuis. You referred to Critical Mention, whose services are now used by the Senate’s communications service. What I can do is to take your request one step further to determine whether we can extend coverage of the media review to all regions of Canada. There was a challenge with access, but we can see how far we can go with this research, and then try to further accommodate all the senators from the regions.

Senator Moncion: Thank you for the supplementary question. Thank you for your suggestions. I will bring them to the attention of the communications service to ask it to expand access and check capabilities. I will then come back to you with an answer. I sincerely thank you for the question.

[English]

Hon. Lucie Moncion: Thank you, Senator Tannas, for the question. The second part of your question is a little bit more difficult to answer because of the rules and the act which that particular position is under the purview of.

The recruitment and hiring process is not under the purview of the Standing Committee on Internal Economy, Budgets and Administration. Under subsection 130(b) of the Public Service Employment Act, the Clerk is appointed by the Governor-in-Council. Therefore, I cannot comment on the second part where we don’t yet have the powers that you are enumerating about with respect to removing that person from office.

As to the first part regarding the job description of the new Clerk, I am confident in the process that is under way to ensure proper functioning of our institution. As you know, much of the Clerk’s job description is statutory in nature and described in our Rules. I will refer you to the Rules of the Senate, under the Clerk position. So far, we have received the proposed job description, which is aligned with its counterpart in the House of Commons. This review took place a few months ago and also comprised salary scales, which were part of the review.

The other portion that I worked on was asking our former Speaker, before he left the Senate, to communicate with the Privy Council Office on a few pending matters, one of which is the appointment of the Clerk of the Senate. The Speaker did put in the request and informed me that the process would be enacted in due course. We still have to define “due course.”

Senator Moncion: Thank you again for the question. There are a lot of things that are within the rules of the Parliament of Canada Act, and that motion, I don’t think, brings changes to the Parliament of Canada Act on this hiring process.

[Translation]

Hon. Lucie Moncion: Thank you for the question, Senator Omidvar, and thank you for providing the question before I arrived at the Senate.

There are quite a few questions within your question, so I will start with the first thing about the headsets. The witnesses have a choice: They can either have headsets that are sent to them, or they can purchase the headsets. It depends upon when they are going to be appearing and how long it is going to take for the headsets to get to them. If they ask the Senate to ship the headsets, the headsets will be shipped to them as long as we have enough time for the shipment to get to the witness. If their appearance is within a limited time that does not give them enough time to receive the headsets, they will be asked to purchase headsets and the Senate will reimburse them.

For the House of Commons, they do not always provide headsets automatically. They do when they are asked, but it is not an automatic situation.

The Senate, right now, for all of the witnesses who are going to be appearing on every committee, there is a 48-hour timeline where they are called by Senate Information Services Directorate employees. They do the sound tests with the proper equipment. If they do not have the proper equipment, they are asked to get it or it is shipped. We do the testing before the witnesses will appear. We check internet connections to make sure that when they do appear at committees, it will be working properly for the interpreters.

One thing that is so important — including for all senators — is to be careful. Just a few minutes ago, we had a colleague asking questions and putting his hand over the microphone. You have to remember that these microphones are directly linked to the interpreters’ ears. We have to be careful. When we shuffle papers over the microphone, that is also going directly into the ears of our interpreters. We have to be very careful when we are using these systems, whether in committee or in the chamber.

Now, with committee chairs, the Internal Economy Committee is bringing forward a set of rules where, if witnesses are appearing and they do not have the proper headsets, they will not be allowed to testify. That is a rule that will be coming forward.

Sound levels are being monitored in every committee room, so we have to be extra careful, especially the committee chairs, to make sure we do not ask the technicians to raise the volume. There is a mandatory volume level that is safe for our interpreters. That level has to be kept in mind.

Also, regarding witnesses having proper equipment, that is going to be on the chairs of the committees to make sure that this happens.

The other portion of this is that we have been working with the interpreters for quite a while to understand all the problems. We are trying to work with the interpreters to make sure they work in a safe environment and that we, as senators, are able to do our work.