Mr. Speaker, very briefly on this question of privilege, we should make a point of not confusing this question of privilege with other things that have arisen in the House lately with respect to the leaking of committee reports or the whole question of decorum.
The only thing this is related to that has come up in recent days is the matter of more business being done in the House where it should properly done. In that sense it is related to things that have come up in previous days.
I would certainly want to agree that this kind of announcement should have been made in the House. I want to make that point in the context of the larger argument that more ministerial policy announcements should be made in the House. I would reinforce that general point.
The nature of this announcement had to do with the parliamentary precinct itself. It seems to me that it would have been a perfect example of something that should have been announced here in this House.
It was announced outside the House without any foreknowledge, that I am aware of, either on the part of the Chair or others who are concerned about this matter.
Without breaching any confidences, I am aware of meetings that went on yesterday in which people were discussing this very thing: the relationship between parliament and public works and what was going on here on the hill, et cetera. Then, all of a sudden, we read in the paper that the minister of public works had made an announcement and did not even make it in the House where there would have been an opportunity to respond.
I think this raises again, Mr. Speaker, whether or not you find that there is a question of privilege with respect to the whole question of the continuing inadequacy of the relationship between parliament and public works and the general lack of direction, lack of overall planning and lack of overall accountability for what happens here in the parliamentary precinct.
I would call the House back to recommendations that were made in 1985 by the McGrath committee, the special committee on the reform of the House of Commons in which we called at that time for the establishment of a parliamentary intendant. That was the phrase we used. It was somewhat along the lines of the congressional architect, which is what they have in the United States in Washington, D.C. It is someone who is over both houses, over the congressional precinct and accountable to both houses, someone who could be the focus of decision making and planning for the parliamentary precinct including both houses, the hill, offices, et cetera. We do not have that now.
We have a continuing problem with both the media and the public trying to find out who is really responsible for the decisions that are made about what is going to be renovated, how much it will cost and what is the long term plan. They do not know whether it is public works, the Senate or the House of Commons. Frankly sometimes we do not seem to know ourselves. We as members of parliament read about things in the papers, decisions that have been taken somewhere else, and we have to answer for them when it comes to public works and the minister.
This should be one more occasion for the House to get its act together and try to clean up the confusion that exists with respect to the various roles of the House and public works.
I also reinforce the point, as I have whenever I get the chance, that more announcements should be made in the House. I feel that this announcement should have been made in the House. There should have been more consultation with the appropriate members of parliament and the appropriate bodies within parliament before such an announcement was made. We should not have had to find out about this by reading the papers.