Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I would like to speak in favour of this motion. The chair of the committee, Member Hawkins, mentioned that he’s been fighting for this since day one of his office. I can say that I wanted to have laptops be used in committees as well as in Committee of the Whole since I came into office in ’99. We’ve had numerous debates on this and I would like to thank the committee and chair for bringing this to this stage. I believe that this recommendation is about making the laptops available during Committee of the Whole, not during formal session, respecting the formality of the House here.
Also, I know that for many years the biggest argument or the largest critic of this proposal is we wouldn’t be paying attention to each other if the laptops were in use. I have to disagree with that notion. If we could have laptops down here, it would be great to have all the Members here all the time except when you have to take a break for biological reasons. I think we’ve all learned how to pay attention. We live in a computer age. Actually my dream for a facility like this is to be paperless sometime down the road.
I have to say it’s not just the Canadian Legislatures that are fully equipped with laptops and other technologies. I have had the occasion to visit other Parliaments in Asia and Europe. There are many, many Parliaments where votes are taken electronically and all the documents are transmitted and viewed electronically. If I just think about the papers we produce often, all the Members here get a piece of paper in the morning on the same document, same speech, same motion. There must be 10 or 15 copies of the same thing that gets circulated. You know, computers are here and they are here to stay. Of course, all technology requires us to be responsible. Having a laptop in front of us does not say that we leave etiquette; that we leave the respect we have for each other at the door. I think it is possible that we are adult enough and responsible enough that we will use this technology to help us do our work and not interfere with other people’s work or in any way decrease the respect and decorum that we expect to have in this House. I think this is an important first step.
When I was a Regular Member, I used to treat it as a policy where -- I can’t do that right now -- I had my CA scan every document into my computer because I didn’t want to have any paper. I put them on disc.
Technology is here to stay and I think we should maximize our technology. We can develop protocols as we go along so that we are not
interfering with each other. Our rules in the House are our rules and we are allowed to change those. I don’t think having access to laptops or a BlackBerry is any more disruptive than talking to each other loudly or reading newspapers or not paying attention. We could be looking at each other and not paying attention. We could have a laptop in front of us and pay attention to each other.
I think this is a step in the right direction and I support it. At least we are going to have an opportunity to have a pilot. I would ask all the Members, if this passes, to participate and try to make good use of it so we can have good recommendations coming out of it and move forward. Thank you.