Right. My own feeling is that regardless of who would be in control of the building, somebody would be upset at some point. It's just the nature of the beast.
I think that, generally speaking, parliamentarians and Canadians are well served by the protocol at Public Works. As for the business of half-mast, I think that's understood and it's respected. It's obviously a case, though, as well, where there's a cut-off point.
At the risk of venturing too far, there was some degree of unhappiness at one point and some degree of concern that the flag wasn't put at half-mast when the news of a casualty in Afghanistan was announced. That raises a whole host of other questions that have nothing to do with paying tribute to the person who's made the ultimate sacrifice, but they have to do with logistics. Does this happen on the day of the funeral? Does it happen when the news arrives? How does that work?
I think that, generally speaking, the rules for the half-masting of the flag are very well respected by Public Works. We don't get involved in that and I wouldn't want to.