Procedure and House Affairs committee  One of the reasons, even though this was set up for the 58 new MPs, and I wasn't one of them.... I already had a full contingent of staff. One of the reasons that I am signing them now and taking them on is for the reason I gave before.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  As I've said since the beginning of our discussion today, what we call le port d'attache, pothere are only two options that are offered on the current form. As I referenced earlier, this is a much better way of using taxpayers' resources. We're grouping people in Montreal. It was

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That would have been more interesting and instructive, but I will nevertheless take the liberty, Mr. Chair—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  What did you just say, Mr. Chair? I did not understand you.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In one of these famous ministerial offices, Saulie Zajdel, of sad memory, now facing criminal charges, was put to work. He was a defeated Conservative candidate, and these guys want to talk to us about partisans?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The claim that I said that was ultimately paid for is false. I thought you were a lawyer, but perhaps I was mistaken. There is proof. Cheques here show that was paid for by the party. That is not a matter of opinion; it is a fact. Our parliamentary employees do parliamentary work

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. It is important to recall that there is currently a very big gap between the budget of the leader of the official opposition and that of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister's budget is approximately 300% larger. To assist you in understanding how those

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It is nevertheless relevant to recall one fundamentally important point, Mr. Chair. While the government is cutting our budgets, it is opening ministerial offices across Canada to do partisan work. That is relevant to this study, since the essential purpose of today's discussion

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That rule would have you understand that when you include something, you're excluding others.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  When you come up with a new rule on April 8, 2014, that says as of April 8, 2014, you can no longer do this, that means that prior to April 8, 2014, you could do this.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  By the way there's an excellent work entitled Bibliographie sur la rédaction et l'interprétation des textes législatifs, 375 pages, published in 1979 by the Éditeur officiel du Québec. I am the author of it and I'll be glad to give you a signed copy.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  If only you knew anything about statutory interpretation and the interpretation of documents....

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Here you go.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  April 8, 2014, the following amendment to the Members By-Law.... As of April 8, 2014: 93.1 (1) No employee of a Member or House Officer may have as their regular place of work any space in premises owned, leased or under the effective control of a political party. What that

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The amendment that I referred to earlier, Mr. Chairman, came into force on April 14, 2014. The member would of course be right if on April 15, 2014, we still had that staff in an office paid for by the NDP. We did not. They now work out of my riding office.