Procedure and House Affairs committee  My understanding is that parliamentarians at Westminster have to produce a card for access.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In the instance where we have House of Commons staff with us, it will be a non-issue. If we don't have House of Commons staff, and the member doesn't recognize the member of Parliament, he or she will be directed to immediately refer to their booklet for quick reference.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, sir.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Comartin, you're absolutely accurate. There is no reason for a member of Parliament or a spouse to be directed to go through the East Block or any other side. They should be allowed, once they've been cleared, to enter the Centre Block or wherever once they pass the screening area.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No. My direction involves all instances.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Chair and Mr. Comartin, there is no policy that I am aware of that says parliamentarians will be challenged. In fact, at special events when we set up a security perimeter, the zone between the perimeter and the front door of the Centre Block is the secure zone, where the people who are protecting that area need to ensure, of course, that the people coming through that secure access zone, where the international protected persons are going to come in, are who we believe them to be.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The directive is very clear, in that if a member of Parliament or a parliamentarian is accessing through a secure zone.... For instance, we'll just assume that there is no one from the House of Commons or the Senate beside us, because if they are, it's a non-issue—there will be easy access—and that's what we've implemented now.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Sir, in fact, it is a conversation that I did have with Mr. Vickers recently, in order to have that implemented on an ongoing basis. My understanding is that yesterday there were House of Commons security personnel outside assisting us, which greatly facilitated access for parliamentarians.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It is assistant commissioner, Mr. Chair.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is a pleasure for me to join you here today to address the question of privilege relating to the free movement of members of Parliament within the parliamentary precinct. I would like to thank you for extending us an invitation to provide you with the most recent update on this important issue.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm not in a position to provide you with any statistics, but what I can say is that each investigation is unique. Again, in some instances we may be in a position to identify the individuals or individual, and other times we're not.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, we have.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Of course I don't have any examples for the committee here today, but I can say there have been successful investigations in the past.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I can say that the RCMP has conducted investigations in the past. We have, as mentioned earlier, a dedicated branch called the technological branch that specializes in this type of area.