I am glad you asked. I just took part in a meeting of the Liaison Committee, which brings together all the chairs of the various committees. We were asked to promptly submit an operating budget for the year. The budget is divided into two: first we have our regular activities, including our meetings, and second, we have the travel budgets.
We talked about the travel budget before. Let me give you a rundown on the situation, since we asked for clarifications at the Liaison Committee meeting. This committee's travel budget for 2010-2011 was about $100,000. Over the subsequent years, nothing has been spent on travel at all.
Having consulted with a number of you, I was proposing to hold meetings in four different places over this year. We could go out west, to Saint Boniface, perhaps come back through Sudbury, Ontario, go to Quebec, in the Eastern Townships, where there is a minority group, and perhaps end up in Nova Scotia, the home province of our friend Mr. Samson, a member of the committee.
I am trying to cover Canada's various regions as much as possible. We cannot do everything, but if we are looking at travelling to those four centres this year, we can ask the clerk to prepare a budget proposal that I could submit to the Liaison Committee as soon as possible.
Some also said that we might benefit from going to those places while the House is sitting. If so, I ask for your co-operation so that all the party whips can ensure that the travelling delegation is balanced, given the votes in the House.
Does that work?