Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't think you have to stick to anything.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think this is a committee or a parallel chamber that you can design to suit your needs—21st century or 18th century; take your pick.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It can serve to be useful to the work of Parliament. If that's your objective, then however you see that being useful, that can be a model that you can build. Let's say you want to allow for witnesses. Well, you could establish a parallel chamber and there would be a mechanism that would make it clear that on such and such a day, witnesses will be invited to participate as....

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's someone who can be an element of a committee composition in the United Kingdom. I think it's the one on standards. But there is such a thing as a lay member.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  So, if you want to advance a perspective, with respect to the parallel chamber that is truly innovative, then allow lay members.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I would have to know how it was designed. I think it was done basically around 2008, when they realized that for purposes of transparency and accountability, having exclusively members involved in looking after codes of conduct and issues of that sort.... Having lay members would give greater credibility to the system.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's correct.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I believe it really depends on how and whether you as parliamentarians think it's important. The parallel chamber is being designed to accommodate—let's be bolder about it—the frustration you may feel in your life as a parliamentarian and what would help to validate and address the challenges you have as parliamentarians.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  This decision was made to facilitate family life for all members of Parliament.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Very civilized.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Absolutely. It depends on the will of this committee. You may decide to establish a parallel chamber, but with certain objectives. It is really up to you to determine what sort of parallel chamber you want. You can determine the hours of work based on the availability of MPs, which, as you said, is very limited.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Of course, we can propose amendments to improve the situation of members of Parliament with respect to their family life. The House has already started working on that.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's better than adjourning after midnight.