Privilege  At the same time, it is critically important to remember in this regard that our practice already recognizes that public servants appearing as witnesses are placed in the peculiar position of having two duties. As House of Commons Procedure and Practice, Second Edition, states at pages 1068 and 1069: “Particular attention is paid to the questioning of public servants.

Public Sector Integrity Commissioner  I have the honour, pursuant to Section 38 of the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, to lay upon the table the report of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2010. This report is deemed permanently referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  In my opinion, you can do this, since it's the members who create the Standing Orders of the House. I am a servant of the House, as I have often said. For example, you can send text messages via BlackBerry. Let's say I'm exchanging text messages with someone who is outside the chamber. This person asks me a question regarding Yvon Godin.

Speaker of the House of Commons  I appreciate your comments, just as I appreciate the support of all members of the House who voted for me to be their Speaker, the servant of the House. I appreciate very much the pleasure of working in this job. I guess I have since I first became the Deputy Chairman of Committees of the Whole House in 1996 or so. It is always fun presiding but I do miss the opportunity to heckle.

Point of Order  I would suggest that if hon. members feel that some change is needed in this list, they have a chat at the House leaders' or whips' meeting, which I am sure will happen again next Tuesday. If they make a change to the list, as your humble servant I will of course follow the changes dictated to me by the House leaders in that respect.

Election of Speaker  They wish to offer their services to the House because, as has been mentioned, the Speaker is a servant of the House. I have no doubt that the other hon. members who have let their names stand for this position have all done so because they are motivated by a sincere concern for making Parliament work.

Public Sector Integrity Commissioner  I have the honour, pursuant to section 38 of the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, to lay upon the table the report of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2009. This report is deemed permanently referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates.

Committees of the House  I once was the chairman of that committee and had a wonderful time dealing with suggested rule changes in the House. Of course, the Speaker is the servant of the House and abides by the rules meticulously. I would be delighted if my interpretation of these is incorrect in the eyes of the committee and it wants to clarify the matter for future debate in the chamber.

Privilege  I am now prepared to rule on the question of privilege raised on Tuesday, January 29, by the hon. member for Mississauga South alleging that members of the opposition were impeded in carrying out their responsibilities when requesting information from public servants. I would like to thank the hon. member for raising this matter and for providing the Chair with further comments since that time. I also want to thank the hon. member for Joliette, the hon. member for Vancouver East, and the hon.

Public Sector Integrity Commissioner  I have the honour, pursuant to section 38 of the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act, to lay upon the table the report of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008. This report is deemed permanently referred to the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates.

Points of Order  Can I do this in accordance with the traditions of Canada...where the Speaker is not the master of the house...? The Speaker is a servant of the house. Hon. members may want me to be the master of the house today but tomorrow, when, perhaps in other circumstances I might claim this privilege, they might have a different opinion....It would make me a hero, I suppose, if I were to adopt the attitude that I could judge political situations such as this and substitute my judgment for that of certain hon. members....

Privilege  He was advised on two separate occasions that a policy directive had been issued prohibiting public servants from communicating with members of Parliament during the campaign period. The member alleged that this directive impeded his ability to discharge his duties as a member of Parliament.

Election of Speaker  Tomorrow the Speaker will deliver a short speech to the Governor General addressing the most important aspect, namely that the Speaker is a servant of the House. As such, I believe the Speaker has a role to play in moderating debate and choosing who speaks next and so on, but there is also a great deal of cooperation that Speakers demand from members of the House in making the House function properly.

Financial Administration Act  This is moving in the wrong direction. Crown corporation employees are, for the most part, not public servants. In fact, the legislation creating the four museums crown corporations specifically states that museum employees are not public servants. We do not want to increase the size of the public service for no good reason.

Budget Implementation Act, 1994  The following part of this bill affects us all personally. It extends the present salary freeze for public servants, the Prime Minister, members of Parliament and senators, federal magistrates, the Canadian Armed Forces, the RCMP and other government workers for a two-year period. Also, pay increments will be suspended for two years.