Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's right.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's right.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's right.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. I also suspect, from the way I read this, the Speaker would also be allowed to view them as a collective.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  If I may, Mr. Chair, this has been the subject of some discussion in the Speaker's office and with Monsieur Guimond. I think Mr. Lukiwski describes the situation accurately, that is to say for purposes of the Speaker's making a decision on how many people, how many times anyone gets recognized.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It could be to Madame Thibault, Monsieur Arthur, Mr. Comuzzi. It would be a question of the Speaker's deciding who had recently had a question. So every week there's one question from an independent and one statement from an independent.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No, there's one question for the independents in a week.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  So Madame Thibault, for example, would get one question in a week, not three.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Then in the next week she could again have another question, if the other two didn't come.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The example we have as a precedent for this was when the Bloc Québécois did not have membership and was not a recognized party in the House. At the time, the proportion of questions had already been allocated among the recognized parties. But the Speaker sorted it out by using the total number in the group that was unrecognized.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  My name is Audrey O'Brien. I'm the Clerk of the House. I am accompanied by Mr. Marc Bosc, deputy Clerk of the House of Commons. We are here to answer your questions, if you have any.

House debate  Pursuant to Standing Order 3, I invite Mr. Blaikie, member for the electoral district of Elmwood—Transcona, to take the chair as the member presiding.