Mr. Speaker, with respect to the new facts you have at your disposal to enlighten your decision, I would like to point out that there used to be a law clerk here, who reported directly to the Speaker of the House. Over the years, the idea got lost, and little by little we slipped into a funnel with fewer and fewer resources.
The fact I would like to add is that having only two permanent law clerks for 301 members is the result of a number of years of systematic erosion of the resources available to us to perform our duties as members.
We both know that time is very important in politics. We had an example here today in which the auditor general commented on employment insurance. Had we asked for a bill to be drafted for a month or two, or some such, and we could not take political action before next January or February, then I would consider my parliamentary privileges were being breached.