Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Dec. 8th, 2016

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Couldn't you just ask a neighbouring MP to...?

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Do you want to defend this one?

[Blake Richards, Conservative, Banff—Airdrie, AB]

[Inaudible—Editor] really a problem now.

[Don Davies, NDP, Vancouver Kingsway, BC]

In Sweden, there is a PR system, though, so it's easier to swap the list, but here you wouldn't go to cabinet until after the government is elected—

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Correct.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

I would be willing to discuss it, if someone champions it. I'm not sure I want to, as the chair.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

I can champion it insofar as it gets sealed. It would be better to defend it, but I won't defend that one myself.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Okay, I'll defend it and get out of the chair at that time. I'll get Blake to chair.

Number 14 is on motion seeking to circumvent the provisions of existing standing orders: disallow or restrict motions that seek to circumvent a rule or practice unless they meet a threshold higher than 50% plus one, e.g. require unanimous consent.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

[Inaudible—Editor]

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

I think this arose from.... We have some things that require unanimous consent that can really shut down Parliament. If at the beginning here the Bloc wasn't giving unanimous...just appointing committee chairs and people on committees and stuff.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

I know what it's getting at, and I am not going to defend it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Okay, there is no champion for this.

The next one is officers of Parliament: examine the funding and operation of the offices of officers of Parliament, including the parliamentary budget officer.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

That's not in our mandate, as far as I can see.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

This would be the Board of Internal Economy.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Yes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

The next one is one-stop shop: reopen the one-stop shop on the parliamentary precinct.

What is that?

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

That came from me. I call that a different kind of standing order.

Until three years ago, we had a one-stop shop where the post offices are now, where you could also get all of your supplies, instead of having to use eway.ca. If you wanted pens, paper, or binders, you went down there. I was a long-time staffer, and it was so much more convenient. When we lost that, it really made the day-to-day operations of offices more difficult, so I was hoping to bring it back. It is outside the mandate of this study, but I would like to see it back

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Can we change the wording of this to “the one-stop shop for office supplies”? That's what you were referring to, right?

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Yes, but it was everything, whatever we needed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Office-type supplies?

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Yes, but again, at most that would be a recommendation to BOIE.

[The Chair, Liberal, Larry Bagnell]

Right, but we can recommend it to BOIE.

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Ask experienced staff.

[Jamie Schmale, Conservative, Haliburton—Kawartha Lakes—Brock, ON]

Do constituency staff still have the flexibility to get supplies at Staples, or somewhere like that?

[David Graham, Liberal, Laurentides—Labelle, QC]

Yes, I've done it.