Procedure and House Affairs committee  I do not have it to hand, but we could definitely submit it to the chair.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  For example, one of the positions eliminated was that of a person who provided administrative support to the parliamentary internship program. That person retired and the position was abolished. The parliamentary internship program still receives administrative support, but that is now part of the duties of other individuals.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  He has long had a sword, so he's good to go.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning, everyone. I'm very pleased to be here this morning. I'll be uncharacteristically very brief. I simply want to thank the committee for all of the work that it's doing on this question and exhort you to come back to the House with a robust report on parliamentary privilege.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Scott, yes, if the committee were to report wanting to codify certain instances, for instance, where they felt the privilege should be waived or how we should comport ourselves, and the report was concurred in by the House, then it's a directive of the House.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  If I may, Mr. Chairman, if I understand Mr. Scott's question, I think we have in fact dealt with it as implicit in the legislation, and that has been something that has been recognized in our dealings on exactly these kinds of issues as a third party dealing with other government departments and agencies.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Chairman, if I may, one of the things that we found especially frustrating, particularly about all of the kind of outside chatter when this Auditor General case came up, was the idea that somehow or other it made equivalent the idea that something was covered by parliamentary privilege, meaning it was something that we wanted to sort of keep hidden in some way, when in fact a lot of the material that's privileged is actually fully accessible.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Ms. Latendresse, I must say that we were a bit disappointed by the way in which the Access to Information Act was explained when Ms. Legault appeared before the committee. Parliamentary privilege was not taken into consideration, although it is a pillar of the Constitution and a parliamentary principle that is very well recognized.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  If I may, Mr. Chairman, through you to Mr. Martin, Mr. Maingot's book on privilege and parliamentary inviolability uses privilege in the more global sense of that, where, as you so correctly point out, there are various rogues and miscreants who under the umbrella of privilege, because they're parliamentarians, can't be arrested, can do heaven knows what with impunity.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm exhorting you to an education role.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Mr. Chair, what happens in the case of a special committee is that funding is provided to start the work. The committee then determines its budget and submits it to the Board of Internal Economy.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Pardon me, but those are two different things. A special committee is one thing, but I believe you referred to a special trip that a standing committee might wish to take. The committee's budget is managed by the Liaison Committee, the committee of committee chairs, and that is where we would draw the funding for travel.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes.