Procedure and House Affairs committee  Again, normally we're not sought for advice in terms of political or party events. Again, I've never really been sought for counsel on a question like that. It's really hard to answer, to be perfectly honest, Mr. Duncan.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Madam Chair, I would like to thank Mr. Lauzon for his question. As he said in response to Mrs. DeBellefeuille's questions, this committee may consider recommendations and select those it wishes to include in its report. The report must be tabled no later than Thursday, at which point it will be in the hands of the House.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's hard for me to answer your question because we usually aren't consulted on these kinds of situations. If he had consulted me, I would have considered all sorts of details, including the identity of the recipient and what the Speaker was wearing when he recorded video. In that instance, I would have taken the precaution of recommending that he not make the video or that he consult the political parties to determine what they thought of it, as I've already mentioned.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Pretty quickly after the Speaker's election, he mentioned to us that he would like to go to Washington during those dates. That put into motion the preparation for the trip in question.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Days or, I would say, within two weeks maximum probably, we were made aware of the Speaker's desire to go to Washington.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Yes, because they would have been very involved in preparing it.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Again, we'll be distributing this material further to the question of Mrs. Romanado. In the Prince Edward Island example, their committee—the equivalent of your committee—adopted a resolution or recommendation that Speakers should abstain from partisan activity, including caucus attendance, for 60 days prior to the commencement of a session and 30 days after.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'll ask my colleague, Jeffrey, to respond.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The official program, do you mean? Again, if it's the direction from this committee, we can produce that.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Through you, Madam Chair, Mr. Duncan, you're right. Often when Speakers go on official visits they will bring a delegation composed of members, representatives from each of the parties. That's not always done. We've seen, for example, past Speakers go on shorter trips, for instance, to one of their provincial counterparts and that would not—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Probably because of the length of the visit, but this may be a question for the Speaker at 9:30.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  To Washington...no.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Again, if it's a longer perhaps more complicated trip with more meetings, then absolutely we send one of our exchanges officers. Again, if it's a smaller shorter trip, either within Canada or in cases like this to Washington, it's not unusual.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I believe it was his chief of staff and his director of events.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  As I told Mr. Cooper, I would have advised him not to make the video or at least to consult all the parties to explain the request that he had received and to seek their opinion.