Procedure and House Affairs committee  When concerns have been raised—talking about the disclosure of the content of bills once the bill has been put on notice—there was some discussion about consultation in advance, the development of policy, and so on. If you look at the precedent, as we stated at the outset, the r

Procedure and House Affairs committee  There may well be.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Maybe what I can say is that in looking at the precedents, the previous decisions of the House, and the previous reports of this committee, as Mr. Bosc said, they looked at the extent of the information that was shared and the amount of detail, whether it was the content of the b

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you. Mr. Christopherson, the Parliament of Canada Act provides for the Board of Internal Economy, provides for confidentiality, and provides for an oath to be made by board members that prevents them from disclosing a whole range of matters, so opening that would require

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Our view is that the confidentiality provision is quite broad, and there may be some aspects, but there are significant limits to disclosure in the act. That would be—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you. I'm looking forward to it.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think it's important for a number of reasons, certainly in the context of the separation of powers. Well, we don't have a perfect separation of powers. We have the executive that is sitting in the legislative branch. As was previously discussed, we have the executive appointing

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think that's correct. We provide legal advice to the institution and members. We provide legislative advice in the context of private members' bills. Those bills are often presented by members of the opposition. Certainly our role is to provide that advice, and to provide the s

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I can't speak to any context that would have been outside of my presence. To my knowledge, I did not meet with members of the other parties in the context of the appointment and in the context of the process. Beyond that, I can't speak to what consultations would have taken place

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I would hesitate to provide a hierarchy of the privileges. I think that they're all fundamentally important. You may have a situation where one is needed more than another. Sometimes, perhaps, the word “privilege” is not the right word, because it sounds like something that you g

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I know that the law clerk's office has already been supporting the work on this important issue and my colleague, Mr. Denis, has been providing his expertise and the office's expertise and that will continue. Certainly, I have a background in human rights law, including harassmen

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I've had the privilege of being involved in cases where the constitutionality of legislation was an issue, particularly the Canadian Human Rights Act in the context of freedom of expression and also the separation of powers. Indeed, in the Pankiw case, there were questions as wel

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think a big part of the law clerk's mandate is to support members in drafting private members' bills. We have great, talented legislative drafters in my office. I see these things coming up in discussions with the relevant MP who is looking to present a private member's bill

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Right. Well, it's a point on which I've been reflecting and my colleagues in the law clerk's office have been reflecting. It's an area that we've identified as one that we could continue to reflect on because, indeed, the law clerk's office is responsible for providing advice an