Procedure and House Affairs committee  All right.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Lenthall never lost his head, by the way. He died an old man in his eighties.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Or you might call it the King Charles I chamber, then.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In the second chamber, as you see, they deal basically with what I think Mr. Simms, Mr. Graham and Mr. Reid would admit are somewhat less substantial issues. That's because it's perhaps, in an environment of party discipline, a safer option. Nonetheless, it's releasing a pressure valve that is giving opportunities for members to raise issues that they still feel are important.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Just consider it basically another committee.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  All of that, I think, would be factored in. I think there is some flexibility, and it would really depend on the model you choose to propose. If the parallel chamber meets five days a week and a good number of hours, yes, you're probably right. However, if it only meets a few hours—like another committee, let's say—I'm not sure that the impact will be as considerable as you might fear.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I might tell you that in the good old days—and we are really talking about the good old days—the House of Commons at Westminster would meet at seven o'clock in the morning. The funniest part was that they adjourned when they refused to adopt the motion to bring in the candles.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think a committee of the whole would perhaps be a useful model to look at, and then using that as your template, as you drill down into decisions about what you really want the parallel chamber to do, then you can start and say, “Okay, there are rules here.” You can select. There are some jurisdictions that have another way of handling business that you might think would be useful.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Again, I think depending on what you regard as your priorities and what you want to achieve, it can certainly become an aspect of the role you would assign to the parallel chamber.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I have not discussed with either Westminster or Canberra how they manage their business. I'm a bit familiar with some of the culture. I would suggest to you that Westminster with its 650 members and a thousand years of history may be bound by certain traditions and behaviours that are expected and that are different from our own.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No. Well, why can't Canada be an innovator?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In terms of continental parliaments, I'm not aware of anything similar, either in the National Assembly in Paris or in the Bundestag in Berlin. I was in Rome for a Speakers conference some years ago. It was not raised, so I'm not really sure that there are other places. I think it depends on the kind of legislative format they follow, the range of powers they give to their members and what they expect of them.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We do see an evolution and a change in the role played by members. Now the question really is: How do you balance the different obligations and responsibilities that you have accepted as part of your role? We know, for example, that legislation is not becoming any simpler. It's becoming more complex.