Mr. Chairman, there are 300 Translation Bureau employees who work just for Parliament — both for Senate and the House of Commons, as well as other parliamentary activities. This includes the interpreters. There is a hierarchy of priorities for translation. Clearly, when Parliament is sitting, the debates are the first priority. We have a commitment that the proceedings of the House will be available as of 6 a.m. on the Internet and at 8 a.m. in the paper version. This is a huge machine that operates when Parliament is sitting. Next, there is committee work, and the next priority is work for members. All of this is seasonal and cyclical. It all depends on what is going on in the House of Commons.
Last year, during the period when there were over 100 million ten percenters, the translation volume was enormous. From time to time, we do daily reviews of translation volumes. We calculate what is delayed. We review the service standards. We try to improve the work tools as much as possible so that we can hire translators working in remote locations, not just in Ottawa. Many new initiatives are underway to increase the number of translators and interpreters we have.
If you have complaints all the time or if there are services you find inadequate because of the delay, you should bring this to our attention. At that time, we will review the situation and work on much more concrete things than we do in our daily evaluations of the translation volumes. This is an ongoing concern. There is also a link as well between the activities of the Senate and those of the House of Commons. When the Senate is sitting, some of its work has the priority. There is a whole decision-making procedure, but I can tell you that these people work only for Parliament and try to meet members' needs in the best possible way.