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Parliamentary Centre Experts

Robert Miller is Executive Director of the Parliamentary Centre. On joining the Centre in 1978, he became senior advisor to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee. In that capacity, he assisted the committee over the next decade in preparing a series of studies on foreign aid, relations with Latin America, human rights and democratic development. Since the early 1990s, Mr Miller has led the Centre in establishing an international reputation in the field of democratic development, overseeing the building of programs in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. Mr Miller has written extensively on democratic development and peace-building.

Peter C. Dobell, the Founding Director of the Centre, established the Parliamentary Centre in 1968 with the goal of improving the efficacy of Parliament. Under his direction the Centre initiated the first training seminar for newly-elected MPs in 1979. Mr. Dobell now devotes his attention to observing and commenting on developments in the Canadian Parliament and suggesting ways that House of Commons committees might be more effective.

Martin Ulrich is a Senior Associate with the Parliamentary Centre, specializing in governance, Parliament-government relations, and budgetary reporting and review practices. His primary focus is strengthening relations between parliamentary committees and departments as related to budgetary and accountability practices, as well as supporting broader initiatives of the Parliamentary Centre related to parliamentary governance.

Jacques Sabourin is a Senior Associate with the Parliamentary Centre specializing in Parliamentary Management and Human Resources Development. Mr. Sabourin has a range of experience with the operations of Canada’s Parliament where, during his career at the House of Commons, he held senior administrative positions including Director of Parliamentary Publications and Distribution; Director-General of Parliamentary Operations; Director-General of Support and Information Systems; Director-General of Human Resources. These positions have given Mr. Sabourin an in-depth knowledge of the needs and challenge of operating Canada’s parliament.