Mr. Chair, thanks to Mr. Watters, who is very organized, I actually have a deck that explains what was new in the revised bylaws that came into force April 1, 2012. I can quickly quote from it:
Main changes found in the revised Members By-law: 1. Clarification of the definition of “parliamentary functions” 2. Change in the definition of “immediate family”—impact on existing contracts or employment relationships with brothers and sisters 3. Clarification of the use of the mandatory form for contracts for professional services 4. Clarification of the rules that apply to the different types of contracts 5. Employees of House Officers or Members cannot be the landlord of any Member—either for their constituency office leases or for their secondary residences 6. Travel section [totally] reorganized and policy details now only appear in the MAS 7. The employee is on “travel status” when he/she is more than 100 km from his/her normal place of work—(formerly the personal residence) 8. 1/2 per diem on the date of travel will apply since the current application is not in accordance with the Board's policies 9. The person who is responsible for the NCRO is not necessarily a House Officer 10. The clarification of the rules of House Officers as distinct from Members and [National Caucus Research Office] 11. No transfer of funds between recognized party budgets, including the [National Caucus Research] budget, House Officers budgets and Members budgets 12. Clarification as it relates to the dissolution of Parliament 13. Clarification that family members of Members may not use the resources provided to the Member
A series of issues were clarified. Some have been changed since then, in fact, through different decisions of the board.
To do a better job, I could probably provide something clearer to the committee so that you have something to look at in terms of what was before and after April 1, 2012.