I think it would be a good idea to reconsider this decision, at least for the weeks that the House is in recess. Many Members return to Ottawa. Perhaps we could allow some of our assistants to use the restaurant. I was deliberately thinking on a large scale when I said it should be open to the general public. I’m not an expert in elevators, but surely the elevator that is closest to the parliamentary restaurant could stop only at the ground floor and 6th floor. It’s possible to arrange for an elevator not to stop at certain floors. There are fire doors located just about everywhere. Of course, it’s possible to cite many reasons why this solution is not feasible and to make everything really complicated. Forget the idea of opening up the restaurant to the general public during break weeks. According to our calendar, Parliament shuts down for one week out of every four weeks. Would it be possible, or feasible, to keep the restaurant open during the break weeks so that our staff could use the facility in addition to Members and senators, instead of being limited to patronizing the restaurant only during the holiday season?
