Procedure and House Affairs committee  As I said, right now we have interim supply until the end of September, so sometime towards the end of August or into September we'll have to have a budget. We'll be working with our—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm a Newfoundlander; I will speak more forcefully. We're getting prepared for a budget. Obviously we have interim supply until the end of September, so sometime in that time frame we'll be working with all the parties in the House of Assembly. We anticipate at this point that we'll have ironed out....

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's the same here in Newfoundland and Labrador. There are great distances and it's up to the caucuses, but you have to remember that individual privilege. If people want to be present, they must be allowed to be present, so it's about that individual privilege. The key issue is making sure that you have the platform available for all parliamentarians.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  As a committee we've met and talked about how important the privilege of voting is. We've talked about different options that may be valid and valuable to members. We have a relatively small chamber. There are only 40 members in the House of Assembly. We've broken it down to looking at some procedural voting decisions.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We think that we can do that by either raising a hand or a verbal yea or nay. Those are substantive decisions. For substantive decisions, we absolutely believe that for bills going through particular stages, or a particular decision of the House like a private member's motion, there should be a recorded division.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Voting would be the number one standing order. How do we ensure that the privileges of members are met so that they have access and can participate? How they participate would be another. The third is making sure we have the right platform and the right technology to support the privileges and the ability to advance legislation and to advance scrutiny, which is very important.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Certainly we realize we're not through the COVID pandemic yet. We're concerned that, as we keep hearing from public health officials, there might be a second or third wave and we want to ensure we have a virtual capability, especially coming into the fall. We have not passed our budget yet.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Certainly. We have accommodated, within the House of Assembly, as many people as possible. On the floor, we've actually moved from where the normal seating risers are to accommodating six members on the floor where the table officers sit. There are some in the Speaker's gallery but they will be miked, and there is just one person in the public gallery.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Certainly, we've collaborated quite well together and, as I said, when we passed the motion to set up the select committee, we made sure that we had representation from the various entities within the House. We ensured that we had an independent member, the third party and the opposition, so that we accommodated everyone's concerns and wishes.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I will paraphrase Justin Trudeau from his book Common Ground, which states that, in the end, we all have to come together as parliamentarians if we are to get anything done. Our political opponents are not our enemies; they are our neighbours. I truly believe that through co-operation we can ensure the people’s work is done.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to appear before you this afternoon. Thank you for the invitation to appear before the committee. It is certainly a privilege to be with you today and to see some of my former colleagues from the House of Commons. I value the role of this committee as a former member of Parliament and as government House leader and Minister of Natural Resources in Newfoundland and Labrador.