Evidence of meeting #45 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 42nd Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was champion.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
I have no idea, probably 237-C or something. You would go there to eat, instead of in your own lobbies.
Conservative
Jamie Schmale Conservative Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON
Yes, that's the restaurant in the cafeteria, I think.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
Anyway, I'm not sponsoring it. I'm just telling you that's what—
Conservative
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Isn't that supposed to be the function of the parliamentary restaurant, though?
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
There, you pay. The food in the lobby is just the food that's available.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
Instead of having food in your own lobby, the lobby food is joint, that's all. That's the way it used to be.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
So you're saying, in the West Block, the restaurant that's right beside the....
Liberal
Liberal
Anita Vandenbeld Liberal Ottawa West—Nepean, ON
When we toured the West Block, wasn't the restaurant...?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Okay, there is no champion for that.
The next one is members’ expenses: provide greater disclosure of members’ expenses.
I'm not sure that is us, either.
Conservative
Jamie Schmale Conservative Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON
No, that's not.... I think we do pretty well already.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
Okay, there is no champion.
The next one is members’ offices: increase the member’s office budget, e.g. sufficient funds for members to hire four staff.
Liberal
David Graham Liberal Laurentides—Labelle, QC
If you can't hire four staff, you're paying an awful lot.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
That's not us either, is it? It's the Board of Internal Economy.
The next one is ministers (split role): put in place a system whereby ministers would not sit in the House; instead, their parliamentary duties are carried out by a “replacement” member.
This was in my speech. That's what they do in Sweden. When you're a minister, you are not allowed to sit in the House. They give you another member of Parliament for your constituency. You are so busy as a minister that you can't really do the two jobs well, so they give you another member and you don't sit in the House. You come one day a week, I think.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
Yes, but who is “they”? Does the minister pick whoever they want?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Larry Bagnell
I'm not sure how they select the person who represents their constituency.
Conservative
Blake Richards Conservative Banff—Airdrie, AB
That would remove democracy from the equation a bit, wouldn't it?