Before we open it up for discussion, I'll reference a couple of things to the committee.
Standing Order 120 does provide that:
Standing, special or legislative committees shall be severally empowered to retain the services of expert, professional, technical and clerical staff as may be deemed necessary.
Also in the binder, which I think all of you have, is the “Financial Management and Policy Guide for Committees”. Page 22 actually says:
Committees are authorized to retain the services of experts...as may be deemed necessary. Prior to hiring temporary help, the Committee Clerk must first verify with the Deputy Principal Clerk that assistance is not available internally. When budgeting for temporary help services it is necessary first to determine the nature and volume of work to be performed. The costs of hiring temporary help locally for a travelling committee are covered by the committee's travel budget....
And it goes on. And then there are guidelines on how much we can pay in hiring staff.
Now, I know that in the five years I've been here I've only been on one committee, agriculture, where we hired expert staff to do a survey of companies in Canada and in the United States that couldn't be undertaken by Library of Parliament. But other than that, it's not something that's been commonly done. All these reports are prepared by Library of Parliament, to my understanding.
I have Mr. Warawa and then Mr. Bigras.