Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's correct.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's correct.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I guess the issue is that the annotated commentary is attached to the structure of the Standing Orders as they currently exist. The idea perhaps would be to work—for your approval in the end—a revised Standing Orders version, and then use that as the vehicle to consider either a

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's not so much to change the Standing Orders, and the exercise was undertaken at my initiative. I had discussed this with various staff of the different parties represented in the House of Commons. The purpose is, for me anyway, personally, to understand the Standing Orders bec

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Absolutely.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It is.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  As I explained to the Speaker and also to the Board of Internal Economy when the proposal was accepted, the idea is to have somebody capable of supervising all the intricate operations that are part of corporate services, that are designed to assist you as members. In the same wa

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's been true since about the 1990s, and it's not statutory, which is one reason that the deputy clerk was stripped of the GIC component and made a direct appointee.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Which one now?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I did.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  No.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The decision was mine, basically, because I knew that, coming in as clerk, it would be important to have an operation that was as good as it possibly could be to assist the members in fulfilling their parliamentary duties. As you will recognize, certainly before the board the top

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, it's true. The individual has been brought over. I don't know what rank he holds within the Privy Council Office, but he is a Privy Council Office employee. He was brought over initially as part of an exchange between Procedural Services and PCO. That was modified to be ju

Human Resources committee  If I may, here is a potential answer. Since this issue is very delicate, it would really be up to you to decide whether it is appropriate to raise a question of privilege to protect yourself.

Human Resources committee  So it could depend on the circumstances. Parliamentary privilege is normally used to protect you. However, when a claim of harassment is made, do you think that invoking the privilege is the best way to protect yourself? I think that is a very delicate issue.