Yes, there was, and his name was Blaikie. He contributed enormously to that seminal report on our parliamentary system. It should be mandatory reading for all today.
In case you don't know about the McGrath report, this footnote notes that it's called the “Report of the Special Committee on Reform of the House of Commons.” It was by Queen’s printer, the Government of Canada printer, and it was printed in 1985.
You may also want to see.... I'm sure MP Bill Blaikie, a fine gentleman whom I knew—the father of MP Blaikie sitting at this table here today—was part of it as well.
It says, “See also C. E. S. Franks.” C.E.S. Franks did a report called “The Parliament of Canada”. It was printed in Toronto by the University of Toronto Press two years later in 1987. If you go and get that report from the Library of Parliament, and I recommend you do, it says that, in particular, you should you look at pages 238-256.
Getting back to the paragraph on this issue of the united provinces of Canada and how committees have evolved:
Little changed in the standing orders—
The Standing Orders, by the way, for those watching, are the rules of the House and the rules of how all of this works.
—or in the detailed scrutiny of government expenditures until the mid-1950s.
I'll also clarify that I wasn't born then either, so please do not accuse me of sitting in cabinet meetings in the 1950s. It continues:
Rules adopted at that time addressed matters including the length of time for the budget debate.
That's an interesting point. Moreover:
In 1958, with the election of the Diefenbaker government—