Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's a rather difficult question to answer in such a short and limited amount of time available.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's more than enough, I suppose. I think, in fact, there are two aspects that we need to consider. One would be how you want the voting system to function. There would be a gamut of rules that might be changed in that respect. The other one that was raised during the course of this meeting was the trigger mechanism that allows you to go to the virtual option.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  You'd have to have fewer than five members rising to request a recorded division.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  There are several ways of doing it. You could do it on division, but you can always escalate. That's the real issue, and there are no rules in place that prevent the escalation. Members have the right to vote in a way that clearly demonstrates how each member in the House who's participating in the vote chooses to vote.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  You don't have unanimous consent if you're adopting it on division.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Alghabra, the simple answer is yes. Again, it really depends on what the House chooses to do through this committee. If you feel that the pandemic crisis we are confronting now requires some consideration for the possibility that it could come again, that may be an opportunity for you to package some rules and practices that would be triggered by the event arising, and then allowing the House to function in a way that would respect social distancing and allow as many members to participate...bearing in mind health safety concerns.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Not historically, no.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, indeed.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's correct.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  As the Speaker mentioned, you might want to go back to the idea of how we want to vote. That's a critical element of procedure. It's really the purpose for the deliberative aspect of the debates you have. As the Speaker indicated in his presentation, we feel comfortable that the current rules work reasonably well and the adaptation would not be too difficult, but voting is perhaps a bit more challenging.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In terms of parliamentary privilege, they are generally respected. Much may depend on the member's particular views about what is actually privilege and what deserves to be treated that way. That is where there is a lot of flexibility.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think that's a very good question, and it speaks to the challenge that we're facing. We want to guarantee our health safety. We are exploring this as an option for how we might behave. Issues of connectivity in such a vast country with three time zones creates its own set of challenges, and they have to be met.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I will speak based on my limited knowledge. I don't think it's really a question of the platform. I think it's really a question of reaching out to the members and making sure they have the equipment that's necessary for them to actually participate. For example, apparently not all members use P9, and so we have to make sure that members are capable of operating the system, being connected and being comfortable with participation through these virtual means.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think I would prefer to avoid answering that question.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The history really has been one of evolution. The very first Parliament was, in fact, only one chamber, largely the House of Lords. The House of Commons split off in the 13th or 14th century. Then we had an alternative, the Committee of the Whole, which was developed, I think, in the 17th century.