Procedure and House Affairs committee  I guess that if one were to look at either Manitoba's or an IPSA model, I suppose that an IPSA model would seem somewhat preferable to me. If you have a lone commissioner, it would seem to me that this person would have a crushing burden of expectations visited upon him or her i

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, there are only 57 members.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, I consider representation to be important, and I completely understand the dissatisfaction around that. I was interested in what Mr. Fraser said yesterday evening. On the three issues of representation, audits and access to information, I think we could make improvem

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Julian was talking about the transition period, and I think that whole business of the corporate memory becomes an issue in the transition. We look at IPSA now, and it's been in place for three years, and by this time now they have created an informal liaison committee betwe

Procedure and House Affairs committee  If the decision were to be made to go from the Board of Internal Economy model to a different model—whether that be a commissioner, as in the case of Manitoba, or something like IPSA, as in the case of the United Kingdom—I think the first thing we would have to consider is the am

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Frankly speaking, Mr. Chairman, through you to Mr. MacKenzie, I do think that the even numbers of government and opposition members provide a good basis, and I think that consensus is really the best way to decide things, because you're deciding things for the good of the institu

Procedure and House Affairs committee  If I may, Mr. Chairman, I have perhaps a slight clarification, in that the performance audit the Auditor General has done here is a performance audit of the administration, not of members. An audit of members by the Auditor General has been something that members have steadfastly

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Frankly speaking, I think, again, that because of the vast differences in the backgrounds of members, they operate in very different ways; the former Speaker spoke last night about people with extensive industry experience or professional experience and so forth, and people with

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Well, if members were to judge that to be helpful, then we'd be happy to comply and to support that regime. As I say, I'm a bit baffled, to tell you the truth.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I realize that my former colleague Rob Walsh suggested that this happen. I suppose it could. Frankly speaking, I just think it's a certain amount of window dressing if the subcommittee meets in camera and then they bring a report back to a full and public meeting. If that meets

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Exactly, and usually what the chair would do is to encourage further discussion.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't know that I'd go so far as to say it's the prerogative of the chair. I can say that no chair has ever done that. It has happened that there has been consensus that was not unanimous, and that too is not all that frequent because there is usually the agreement of everyon

Procedure and House Affairs committee  May I, Mr. Chairman, and through you to Mr. Scott, cover off some of the points he raised earlier, which, as I understood, were questions? Our concern as officials who serve the House and serve all parties is indeed to have rules that apply to everyone. That's one of the reason

Procedure and House Affairs committee  That's right.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In fairness, Mr. Lukiwski, I don't think an examination of the role of the board was part of the mandate of the Auditor General. The Auditor General was coming in to see whether or not the administration adequately supported the Board of Internal Economy and executed its directiv