Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. The irony of this is that you've mentioned over and over again the character and integrity of the individual who was chosen, Mr. David Johnston. The sadness and the irony of this is that, if you had submitted to a fair and transparent process in an effort t

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Was this because you didn't trust the media? Was it because you didn't think they were capable of doing something they've done for years?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yet it would seem that you're trying to control them through the use of this commission.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's kind of disappointing commentary to me. It's starting to sound a little more marginal than an actual response. I feel that if you genuinely thought that something like this was so important for Canadians and was so democratic, Minister, then at least you would have provide

Procedure and House Affairs committee  You're making that statement even though the debates commission wasn't even debated in the House of Commons. These reflect the recommendations that you did not take that were made by the house procedure committee. The office of the debates commissioner is under the ministry of d

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Hello, Minister. It's lovely to see you, and you did a great job again last night at Politics and the Pen. You did just a lovely job.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Minister Gould, you referred to the independence of the debates commission. I would say that it is not truly independent, because if it were, you wouldn't be here today for the estimates. Our committee has already heard from the Chief Electoral Officer and from the administration

Procedure and House Affairs committee  From your appearance here today for the main estimates, it seems evident to me that your department does in fact have the ultimate authority over the budget of the debates commissioner. Is that true?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Okay, but you did provide that signed authority.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Sure, but even if you claim that you're not interfering in the budgetary decisions of the commission, ultimately you as the minister and the government of the day do have that authority. Is that not true?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I am kind of concerned about the term “arm's length”. It's still very clear to me that the minister and the government do control the budget, so I'm wondering why you would place something so critical to our democratic institutions as a leaders debate under your department, thus

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I think we need some time to discuss it further before we go to a vote.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Go ahead.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, I was here. At the very beginning, no one was here except the minister and me. Then it was Mr. Christopherson and I think Linda trickled in at some point. I don't....

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I feel as though, Chair, this has the same theme as my previous suggested motion. Mr. Bittle, are you sure? This really will be the WWF of PROC. We're getting into the creamed corn here. This is bad. I'd like to offer the government one more opportunity. Let's put the motion as