Procedure and House Affairs committee  That is correct, precisely. We try to avoid that, as much as possible, outside of question period. However sometimes it may be more important for the person to be in the frame, at the very least.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  If I might just add, one of the things as well that would make for much better television, if I may say from my aged perspective, is if members—and I know how hard-pressed you are for time.... In interventions where members don't read a text, I think it's much livelier. People who are watching feel much more engaged.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I can confirm that's what they should be doing. I think from time to time, if there's been a switch in who's speaking at the last minute, there may be a certain time when the camera is trying to find whoever is getting up. That might happen, and there might be errors that slip in from time to time.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We try to share the information we have. For example, in question period, we know who is going to question, but we don't know who is going to answer. That's always a bit of a challenge. Then, depending on the body language of the person answering, they face the Speaker, or they face the questioner.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  One of the things that Mr. Bard was explaining to me is that there is broadcasting at the request of the different parties. Mr. Bard would be happy to meet with the whips and representatives of the parties who may want better explanations as to how the camera shots are picked, and what have you.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  And Happy Valentine's Day to you, Mr. Chairman. Forgive me, lest I seem ungrateful for your affection.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Well, I'll defer to my colleague Monsieur Bard, who can better answer that. When I was talking to him in preparation for this meeting today, he was explaining the familiarization period that goes on with a new Parliament. People have different ways they turn and different angles; they face different ways.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  If I may just add, Mr. Chairman, one of the things that is a bit of a challenge as well is that you have the name of the member, the riding--and the riding names seem to get longer, or maybe I'm just getting older--and the names of ministries, particularly as you get responsible for this, that, and the other thing.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, there's nothing very much in the way of an opening statement, except perhaps to say we're delighted to be here to have a chance to talk to the committee about broadcasting. As you know, since 1997, the House of Commons administration has been broadcasting, in a non-partisan way, all House of Commons deliberations.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  --which were the size of helicopters and had giant hoods that came down. We basically--

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's right. It wasn't quite the Flintstones, but close. Basically, we made a certain number of copies. A copy was delivered to members' offices. It was double-enveloped, so it was addressee-only, and somebody had to sign for it when it was delivered to the office.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Actually, I was musing just the other day on Micoms--

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It wouldn't add anything sort of significant. I should say that one of the committees, the committee on environment and sustainable development, used that approach when it was doing the study of oil sands and its effect on water, which was a very sensitive issue, obviously. What they did was watermark the copies and make the copies available each with an individual watermark.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We'll certainly look into possibilities of what kinds of tools we might be able to make available to members. The committee will understand, of course, Mr. Chairman, that we have cost constraints. We have to juggle things within the question of priority, so it becomes a question of whether this is something that would have a high priority for a lot of members.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I have to say no, there is nothing specific. But after my first appearance before the committee, and given the popularity of social media, I understood the need to address the question of confidentiality in the next orientation program for new members. In fact, we intend to speak with the party whips, because we would like to meet with members—not just new members but the entire caucus—to review certain basic rules, because the environment has changed.