Mr. Chairman, thank you very much for the kind invitation. I don't have much of an opening statement. I really said it in the ruling on this issue that I made in the House a few weeks ago.
Louis Bard and Rob Walsh are with us, if you wish to ask them any questions. I'm sure you're familiar with their roles here in the House, and they'd be more than happy to discuss this issue with you.
As I mentioned, I made a ruling in the house with regard to the matter. It's an issue the committee might want to consider. That's what I suggested, with perhaps amending the Standing Orders of the House, if that is the desired outcome.
I don't know whether you want to make recommendations on this one or not.
My concern was that there was a complaint that members were reporting who was present and who wasn't. As was pointed out in the argument, a reporter could do that if the reporter were sitting in the gallery, but we don't see reporters in the gallery as often as we used to in the old days. They're not seeing who is present in the House and who isn't, so it doesn't get reported very often. But it's certainly something the press gallery could do. There is no offence against reporting it.
Members are not allowed to refer to a member's absence in the House, and that's fine. They may refer to that absence if they print a note on their BlackBerry and send it out, saying a member is not there, which is not the same as saying it in the House. Our prohibition is on saying it in the House in the course of one's remarks.
As you know, lots of games are played to get around it, like welcoming a member back, or saying how nice it is to see the member's fresh face arrive in the House, and that sort of thing. These things happen from time to time. So without commenting on any of that... I'm not sure this is a matter of great importance, but because the issue was raised and I had to give a ruling on it, I thought you might want to look at it. If you want to make some statement, or ban this practice or do nothing, the committee would at least have studied it, and that was my purpose.