Procedure and House Affairs committee  Again, I think the issue really has to revolve around the idea of whether it was legitimate or illegitimate. Then, when a question like that does come up, I think the circumstances would assist the personnel in how they would conduct the proceeding or the event.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I was not informed, so I'm afraid I can't tell you.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I suspect most of them who were present probably would have stayed. I would want to have confirmation of that, but that would be my initial response.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  As part of our practices, there is an understanding that when a meeting is called a decision to adjourn in a meeting assumes consensus. If it is done at the initiative of the chair present and if the consensus is not clear, then the staff may decide to stay, as an appropriate response.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think the answer I'm giving you suggests that there was, in fact, a belief that the meeting had not been properly adjourned.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Certainly.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, certainly. The purpose of the revision of the rules is basically to make them more accessible to the members. The way they are written now does not actually facilitate that. If, for example, you were to look at the table of contents of the current Standing Orders, it just gives you under each chapter heading the number of the standing order relevant that falls under that chapter.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Who has control?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The parliamentary association is part of the IIA. Therefore, it would be under the clerk assistant and then the clerk assistant answers to me.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  If it were dealing with salaries of staff, I would assume that it's not part of the association, but it would be part of the administration.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Unofficial activities...? I'm not sure to what you're referring.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I suspect you might be referring to what occurred several weeks ago. The question then would be whether or not a determination was made as to whether or not it was official or unofficial.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think that's one of the reasons we prefer to work with professional indexers, people who understand the nature of the work. Building a network of phrases that alludes to a similar topic allows for a more profitable search than just using such a specific, tight terminology that if you don't actually use it, you can't find it.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, if you wanted to use “plebiscite”, it should be findable too.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  There is a service that does that work for us.