I'm not sure who should speak first on this.
You used the phrase, “unanimous consent among the recognized parties”, and I would just say for the record that, having been in Parliament from 1993 to 1997, I didn't belong to a party that was recognized by the House of Commons, although I did belong to a party that was recognized by very many Canadians.
If unanimous consent is to be the bar, and I'm not sure that it need be, regarding that as consent arrived at only between recognized parties leaves members out on occasion, as it did in 1993 to 1997 with nine members of the NDP. Often, when unanimous consent was sought and there hadn't been consultation with those of us without party status, unanimous consent was not reached because not all members of Parliament had been consulted.
I would just urge that when you're talking about unanimous consent—and whether the committee wants to recommend that or not is another matter—independents and members of Parliament who belong to non-recognized parties, if there are such in the House today, should be taken into consideration.