Louis Sebert

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I’d ask that Ms. Schofield be allowed respond to that.

Mr. Chair, we are always responsive. Thank you.

---Laughter

Mr. Chair, I wonder if Ms. Haener might be able to assist on this question. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that on Friday, June 24, 2016, I will move that Bill 6, Miscellaneous Statute Law Amendment Acts 2016, be read for the first time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Chair, our clear objective is to not have any gap in providing this service. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Yes, Mr. Chair. The figure I gave was the figure, and referred to by Mr. O’Reilly was the cost of the library. Costs are made up not only of the librarian’s salary, but publications, particularly ongoing subscription publications are incredibly expensive. Much of this information could be obtained online. The cost savings will be twofold: the reduction in the position, but also, the cost, the very, very high cost of keeping up subscriptions.

I understand, Mr. Chair, that if for example they are earning $12.50 an hour or some amount like that that some of that actually does end up in their pocket, if I can put it that way, but some of it goes to room and board, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, I would ask to defer this question to Ms. Schofield. She can assist. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, I don’t believe we consulted with other governments certainly respecting their libraries. We simply looked at our own cost structure here where there were so few people using it in view of the cost that it simply did not seem to be worthwhile. We only have a certain amount of resources for outreach, and as I mentioned earlier, we are increasing the outreach capabilities of the Legal Services Commission, and it simply comes down to a matter of cost balance against effect. Is the result good enough to justify this $467,000 cost? For the very few members of the public who actually use...

Mr. Speaker, a goodly number. In fact, most of the cases and many other analyses of cases are free online through CanLII or some of the other services that are provided to the public and also for lawyers. I have not received or done an analysis as to what costs we might incur should we be provided library-type services on a limited basis, but certainly there would be still a very, very large saving, in my belief, because the current costs which I referenced yesterday are very high, and if there’s a very small kiosk or something along those lines provided with access through the internet...