Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, I will continue the answer I began to give to Mr. Proulx last week in answer to his question. I am afraid that I am not in a position to give you any good news. The clarifications I will provide will not elicit feelings of great joy, either in you or in part-time workers.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The employee benefits rate is set by the Treasury Board. It's uniform for the public service. In terms of parity between benefit plans for House employees and public servants, I can assure you that House employees are entitled to the same benefits as public servants.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  With respect to temporary employees, the question still remains. There is always the possibility of using temporary staff. However, we are currently in the process of looking at which temporary jobs should be formalized. For example, for jobs where the work is mainly carried out when the House is sitting, we have created a job classification that in some way accounts for temporary employees.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, we could certainly take that under consideration. However, it raises certain difficulties, one of which is the fact that members choose the locations in their ridings and in these areas, it would concern the local police forces. Nevertheless, we could study...

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We could continue this discussion after the meeting.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, Mr. Chairman, one of the things we have worked at very energetically is the whole idea of presenting to employees the most reasonable and accommodating approach in terms of the responsibilities they have vis-à-vis their families. For example, one of the things that's going on now is we're studying the elaboration of a new policy on the duty to accommodate, the whole idea of being able to accommodate exceptional circumstances, whether they are for family or whether they are....They don't even have to be exceptional circumstances, but what do we do to accommodate families?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Are you referring to the technology or to the overall budget?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think it's very difficult to predict where members will be feeling the pressure with regard to their own budgets. I thought you were referring to technology, because in that regard I was going to say that I think the campus-wide infrastructure we've put into place and the foresight the board has shown with regard to those investments will serve us well in the sense that it is intended for the long term.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, I could add that there is a group within the Translation Bureau that works only for Parliament. Mr. Bard, the person in charge of information services, handles liaison with the Translation Bureau.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I hope my answer will not be helpful to the many people out there who are hoping that I will leave. We do in fact have a succession planning program, but we have no document that would show you how these things are going to happen. I know that my predecessor, Mr.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In the members' operating budget, last year's increase was....

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, one of the things that's very important to realize is that the investments we make in technology always have to be kept up, in terms of being maintained, but also, as is the nature of technology, they have to be revisited from time to time, so that they can be brought up to date with the newer technology that's constantly being developed.