Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair, they've indicated to me here in the room that everything is fine on their end.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, I can, Madam Chair.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's right. No members are in the room.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair, the interpreters were able to catch what Ms. Vecchio was saying. There does seem to have been some lag with the Internet connection, however. It was sort of cutting in and out, but the interpreters did get the gist of what Ms. Vecchio did say.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Ms. Petitpas Taylor, according to the interpreter, everything's working properly now.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair, I can also let the committee know that I have been in touch in a general way with the various entities that have main estimates before PROC, letting them know there is a possibility that an invitation on very short notice could potentially be proffered to them. They

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Ms. Vecchio, the usual practice when a bill is referred to a committee is the committee tends to give precedence to legislation that is referred to it from the House. That's not a hard and fast rule. It is ultimately the committee's decision as to how it wishes to order its work.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Turnbull, the House does refer estimates periodically to committees for that exact purpose, to allow the committee to look at the estimates, to hear from relevant witnesses on those estimates, such as, for example, a minister or, in our case for the House of Commons, the Spea

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair, even at that point, they wouldn't be making any type of recommendations. It would merely provide an opportunity to the committee to hold a meeting with witnesses to discuss what was in the main estimates.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Therrien, I can answer that. Last fall, the supplementary estimates were sent to the committee. The committee then held meetings with the minister, the Speaker of the House and the Secretariat of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians. The comm

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair, I do have House officials as well as officials from the Parliamentary Protective Service and Elections Canada on standby, so to speak, in case the committee did want to pivot to the main estimates at some point before the May 31 deadline. It is, of course, a hard dea

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair and Mr. Turnbull, I'm just checking now with the IT techs in the room to get them to assess your connection. It does seem to be occasionally catching, but I think everyone can still continue to hear you okay.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair, we haven't had any indication yet that it is a problem, although when Mr. Sarai started speaking again, it did seem to dramatically improve. It may have just been the positioning of the mike. I'll check with the techs in the room to see if there are any connectivity

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair and Ms. Vecchio, an invitation has been offered to both Minister Freeland and Minister Chagger, among others. We have yet to receive a formal response. I have periodically checked with both their offices to see if they're any closer to a response, but I still do not

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair, I don't necessarily have a lot more to add other than to reiterate the point about committee business. Generally, when a committee is meeting under committee business—and currently for meeting 27 the item of business that the committee has been engaged in is commit