We have before us, to discuss the main estimates for the PCO, from the Privy Council, Marilyn MacPherson, the assistant deputy minister, corporate services branch; and Monsieur Yvan Roy, deputy secretary to the cabinet and counsel to the Clerk of the Privy Council.

The IGC, which opened on 23 July 2007, at the meeting of the General Affairs Council, essentially operated on two levels: at ministerial level, with Parliament represented by three Members – Elmar Brok, Enrique Barón Crespo and Andrew Duff; and at the level of the group of legal experts, whose work had been prepared by the Council Legal Service and on which Parliament and the Commission were also represented.

With matters pertaining to legal bases generally is settled at Coreper or ministerial level, the Council Working Group reached agreement on the substance of the proposal.

Michael Bartlett, Legal Counsel, Legal Services Unit, Fisheries and Oceans Canada: I am Michael Bartlett, and I am the counsel for justice in the legal services unit with Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

It is worth noting that legal counsel retained by the ministerial representative similarly concluded that the Crown has a duty to consult with First Nations in regard to the proposed legislation as a result of their collective interests in reserve lands. It is also worth noting that the legal counsel for the ministerial representative noted that even at its most minimal, the duty to consult requires direct engagement with each First Nation.

As I understand the memorandum, the changes include four things: relegating legislative counsel to drafting only private members' bills; delegating procedural clerks to draft amendments to government bills, a function that used to be performed by legislative counsel; prohibiting legislative counsel from providing legal advice to members in relation to government bills or amendments to government bills either in private or in committee; restricting the drafting of members' amendments of government bills to compatible language as opposed to credible, legally binding amendments drafted by legislative counsel, a service to which we were a ...[+++]ccustomed in the previous Parliament.