Procedure and House Affairs committee  You know, it's always a fear. It's too bad. I'm going to be completely blunt here and say that I think this bashing of politicians and the work they do has become a popular sport. It's really unfortunate. I wish members would stand up for themselves. The hours are terrible. They

Procedure and House Affairs committee  With private members' business on Thursday afternoon, for those three votes we take for private members' business, not all the members are in the legislature. But they also typically cross party lines, so the vote is not necessarily party by party. I think there isn't as much of

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That would be my advice, yes.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's good when the kids are off school—when the House is sitting and and even when it's not. At March break, for example, the House doesn't sit but the program is offered and many members avail themselves of it. Some out-of-town members find March break a perfect time to bring th

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Those programs are always fully booked.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I was here, because I remember the Friday sittings. When the House sat on Fridays it did not meet on Wednesdays, so it was still a four-day week. Wednesdays were reserved for cabinet and caucus meetings, and some committees would meet in the afternoon, but the House did not meet

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. It had to do with out-of-town members not being able to spend enough time with family. There was a push to get rid of the Friday sitting so that those members who had to travel could get home in a decent time to spend with their family and have some constituency office hours

Procedure and House Affairs committee  A lot of them have constituency office hours on Friday, and many of them even on Saturday.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  There are 107.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It was in the afternoon. We used to come into the House at 1:30 p.m. and do routine proceedings, and question period was part of routine proceedings. So it could occur any time between 2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think it was an adjustment in the beginning. We had to make adjustments in order to accommodate that. We had to make adjustments in committee time, for example, because mornings were typically used for committee meetings. After making those adjustments, there were still mixed r

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm going say first of all that we don't have a defined benefit pension plan here for members, so the average age is getting higher. At this point I would say it's probably in the mid-fifties.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It could be. We haven't polled the members, so I can't really say for sure. Certainly there are a number of members with young children, but as I say, by and large they already have their own arrangements in place.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We currently have 38 female members out of a House of 107.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes. We have gender-neutral washrooms, and those same washrooms are fully accessible. They're single washrooms, so that visitors and staff members who require a little bit of extra space can manoeuvre in them.