Hello, everybody. Thank you both for those very important presentations.
First of all I want to say that I was able to sit in the first smaller Parliament. Part of the reason that I, as a British Columbian, was able to sit there was that I stayed. When I came back home to B.C., I self-quarantined with my family for two weeks. I arrived home, and my family wasn't there because they had gone to get my son who was away at university. They drove him back instead of having him fly, just trying to keep him safe. Then we stayed in the home. Family members and friends brought us food. It was very weird. We did that because we knew things were happening, and I certainly did not want to be unintentionally infecting anyone in my constituency and in my riding, so we made the decision to do that.
I'm also hearing from constituents in my riding who are health professionals—nurses, doctors and caregivers—who are now living in their RVs and self-isolating from their families. It's heartbreaking to hear stories from some of those health professionals who are talking about looking over the fence and watching their kids play but not being able to hug them. People are making some really massive decisions to make sure they take care of the health and well-being of their community and their family.
First of all I want to talk about the issue that Mr. Brassard brought up, the idea of having a venue that provides spacing for members of Parliament.
I have some questions around that: What about the workers? How is morale for all of the workers in the House of Commons who are having to come in and work with Parliament? You have 32 parliamentarians, but how many staff does that require to look after them? There is a question about the amount of cleaning. There was discussion about how often they're cleaning in those high areas. When the House is actually sitting for the day, or in our case overnight, how much more cleaning is happening? What does that look like? Are there appropriate spaces?
I think of the amazing interpreters—and that makes me remember to slow down—who are doing so much work in a very unusual environment. For them to be able to do their work effectively, there are so many challenges. I don't know if those spaces would provide for them.
I'm opening it up to both of you to answer given your expertise. The other factor, even having 338 parliamentarians spaced out nicely over those spaces, is flying. For me to fly to Ottawa it's an epic journey. I'm on Vancouver Island. At this point I actually can't fly from my riding. I would have to drive a substantial way to get on a plane.
That's half of my time already, but if you could talk about some of those challenges, I would really appreciate it so we all have clarity.
Mr. Patrice, if you could answer, that would be amazing.