Angry in the Great White North

From the Parliament of Canada Act, Division D, Board of Internal Economy, Functions:

52.3 The Board shall act on all financial and administrative matters respecting

(a) the House of Commons, its premises, its services and its staff; and

(b) the members of the House of Commons.

This includes offices, and it includes moving material from one office to another.

It is not the responsibility of the party or of the government, but of the House of Commons, assuming office material is properly labeled, to make sure that the material goes to where it is supposed to go.

Despite the pedestrian name, the Board of Internal Economy is one of the most powerful committees in the House of Commons. It is the only committee that sits through prorogation and dissolution. The person in charge of the Board is the Speaker of the House, in this case, Liberal MP Peter Milliken.

Two cabinet ministers sit on the board -- Carol Skelton and Robert Nicholson. The Leader of the Opposition is given a seat too, but in practise that seat is delegated. Right now, Lucienne Robillard represents Liberal Leader Stephane Dion.

The composition of remaining MPs who sit on the board is tipped in the balance of the opposition. There are two Conservative representatives (Jay Hill and Joe Preston), three MPs from the opposition parties (Karen Redman for the Liberal Party, Michel Guimind for the Bloc Quebecois, and Libby Davies for the New Democratic Party).

So if boxes containing old memos were not moved to the Prime Minister's Office as indicated by the labels, the Board of Internal Economy needs to answer for it, because it is their job to keep the administrative functions of Parliament running smoothly on behalf of all parties. That Liberal MP Mark Holland might have had these boxes in his possession for a year, or if that wasn't the case, that he did not turn over these boxes to the Speaker upon discovering them or upon being told of them, should be a matter of concern for the Board. He has undermined their authority and has exacerbated an already serious failure of the Board to fulfill its function.

It will be interesting to see if the Speaker calls Mark Holland out on this. He can according to Section 52.6 (1):

52.6 (1) The Board has the exclusive authority to determine whether any previous, current or proposed use by a member of the House of Commons of any funds, goods, services or premises made available to that member for the carrying out of parliamentary functions is or was proper, given the discharge of the parliamentary functions of members of the House of Commons, including whether any such use is or was proper having regard to the intent and purpose of the by-laws made under subsection 52.5(1).

Interestingly, the only MP who can ask the Board if Mark Holland committed an offence against the Parliament of Canada Act is Mark Holland:

(2) Any member of the House of Commons may apply to the Board for an opinion with respect to any use by that member of funds, goods, services or premises referred to in subsection (1).

I suppose someone could ask the RCMP to look into this, but even then, the Board of Internal Economy has the final say if the investigation is even valid:

52.7 (1) During any investigation by a peace officer in relation to the use by a member of the House of Commons of funds, goods, services or premises referred to in subsection 52.6(1), the peace officer may apply to the Board for, or the Board may, on its own initiative, provide the peace officer with, an opinion concerning the propriety of such use.

In fact, the Board of Internal Economy can squash any investigative process aimed at a member of parliament inasmuch as it applies to how an MP is using the resources of Parliament.

That Mark Holland is making political hay with material that, at best, was overlooked by the Board, or at worst, was kept hidden from the Board to keep it from fulfilling its duties might seem like an esoteric point. But I'd like to think that Speaker Milliken takes it seriously and that he is considering exercising his power under 52.6(1) of the Parliament of Canada Act to make it clear to everyone what responsibility a member of parliament has when he finds parliamentary material that clearly does not belong to him.

Stephen Taylor has some amusing observations about Mark Holland's parade of boxes.