The committee met at 0900 in room 151.

Committee business

The Chair (Ms. Teresa J. Armstrong): Good morning, everyone. The Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs will now come to order.

As members will recall, at our April 14, 2026, meeting, this committee decided that it would continue its practice agreed to in the 43rd Parliament and consult the recognized party whips or House leaders for a list of members to appoint to each standing committee when a vacancy occurs. A letter was sent the following week to the official opposition House leader and whip regarding the vacancy on the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs. We received a letter from the opposition leader last Thursday, which was forwarded to all members on the committee.

How would the committee like to proceed? MPP Allsopp.

Mr. Tyler Allsopp: I move that MPP Jessica Bell be appointed to the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs.

The Chair (Ms. Teresa J. Armstrong): Is there any debate? Are all members ready to vote? All those in favour? All those opposed? I declare the motion carried.

I will now turn the floor to the Clerk, who will provide us with an update on the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The Clerk of the Committee (Mr. Christopher Tyrell): The NCSL’s—National Conference of State Legislatures—annual Legislative Summit is something that the committee, in various iterations, has been attending for over 20 years now. It’s an opportunity for legislators and committee staff to interact with their counterparts from across the US, its overseas territories, and several other countries from around the world. There are a large number of business sessions available for members to attend on a plethora of topics, some being AI, education policy, health and human services policy, national resources and energy policy, transportation—those are some of the examples from recent years.

It is worth noting that thanks to the advocacy of members of this committee, Ontario is officially joining NCSL as an international affiliate member, similar to Alberta and Quebec, currently, in Canada.

The NCSL is meeting in Toronto later this week, and the Speaker is hosting a reception for them this Friday, which members are invited to attend if they’re able. The official signing ceremony is scheduled for the following day. I would be happy to provide more information about both of those events to members after we wrap up here today.

With all of that said, I prepared a travel budget or several travel budgets for the committee’s consideration, should the committee decide to attend the Legislative Summit this year. There should be four options that have been provided to each of you. One set of options would allow for all interested committees members to attend. The other set would allow just the Chair and one member from each caucus to attend—or four members to attend. There are subsets for arriving a day early and leaving a day after or arriving the day of and leaving a day after. You can all take a look through those and the numbers that are there. All four of these options include two staff members attending—myself as committee Clerk and a research officer—which is standard practice for a conference of this nature.

I think the main thing to take from these four options—they all do look quite similar, with the exception of the dollar amount—is that any of these budgets is setting a maximum envelope of what we could possibly spend. We do not expect to spend all of the money indicated in any of these four situations, but this budget would allow for approval to spend up to that amount. The money would come from the committee’s existing budget, so we don’t need to ask for more money from the Board of Internal Economy in order to be able to go. We would still need to let the Board of Internal Economy know the committee has approved this budget, that it comes from within the allotted funds already, and the board needs to sign off on the committee doing this because it’s an expense outside of the normal recurring committee expenses.

So, again, there are four options—each page is double-sided. The one that provides the largest amount of flexibility is the first option. The final total is highlighted on the first page, which is actually less than the amount we approved to go to conference last year in Boston by a couple of thousand dollars. But it’s up to you which option you would like to go with.

I’m happy to answer any questions you may have, and I believe some of you have sample motions if you are ready to approve a budget option today.

The Chair (Ms. Teresa J. Armstrong): MPP Allsopp.

Mr. Tyler Allsopp: Given that we’re officially joining, I think it makes sense to provide the members with the opportunity to go, should they like to. As the Clerk mentioned, this is sort of an up set limit—we expect that we’ll probably come in under, and maybe not all members will want to go.

I do have a motion: That the committee approve a budget in the amount of $61,325.44 for committee members and staff to attend the annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures and that the final budget be submitted to the Speaker and the Board of Internal Economy for their approval; and

That the Chair, on behalf of the committee, write to the House leaders of the recognized parties to request that a motion be presented to the House to authorize permanent members of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, the committee Clerk and the research officer to attend the Legislative Summit of the National Conference of State Legislatures in Chicago, Illinois, from July 26 to 30, 2026.

The Chair (Ms. Teresa J. Armstrong): Are the members ready to debate the motion? No debate.

Are the members ready to vote? All in favour? All those opposed? I declare the motion carried.

I’ll ask if there’s any other business to discuss today. As there is no business, I deem this meeting adjourned.

The committee adjourned at 0906.

STANDING COMMITTEE ON PROCEDURE AND HOUSE AFFAIRS

Chair / Présidente

Ms. Teresa J. Armstrong (London–Fanshawe ND)

First Vice-Chair / Première Vice-Présidente

Ms. Laura Smith (Thornhill PC)

Second Vice-Chair / Deuxième Vice-Président

Mr. Ted Hsu (Kingston and the Islands / Kingston et les Îles L)

Mr. Tyler Allsopp (Bay of Quinte / Baie de Quinte PC)

Ms. Teresa J. Armstrong (London–Fanshawe ND)

Mr. Jeff Burch (Niagara Centre / Niagara-Centre ND)

MPP Billy Denault (Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke PC)

M^me Dawn Gallagher Murphy (Newmarket–Aurora PC)

Mr. Ted Hsu (Kingston and the Islands / Kingston et les Îles L)

Mr. Amarjot Sandhu (Brampton West / Brampton-Ouest PC)

Ms. Laura Smith (Thornhill PC)

MPP Paul Vickers (Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound PC)

Substitutions / Membres remplaçants

Mr. Joseph Racinsky (Wellington–Halton Hills PC)

Clerk / Greffier

Mr. Christopher Tyrell

Staff / Personnel

Ms. Amanda Boyce, research officer,
Research Services