Procedure and House Affairs committee  Sure. My dissertation research—soon to be a book, hopefully—looks at these patterns of speech and how different parliamentarians speak differently about different issues. The evidence really does show, at least when it comes to women—I haven't had the opportunity to look at representation of other groups—that women parliamentarians, regardless of party affiliation, are more likely to speak about women and raise issues that relate to women.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'll start and then hand it over to Dr. Thomas to elaborate. I think certainly you would want to see at a level that applies across the board the parameters and conditions under which it is an option to decide that this week, or whenever it is, you're going to participate remotely from your constituency.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  To build on what Dr. Thomas has said, I think I would only add one thing. The mode through which you're questioning a cabinet minister or investigating a piece of legislation, or whatever it might be, whether that's happening through a Zoom meeting or in person, is neither here nor there so long as there is the actual opportunity to press on those things and dig into them and so on.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I guess I can jump in on that one. I am currently 39 weeks pregnant, so it would not have been an option for me to come to Ottawa. No airline would let me step onto an airplane at this present time. If I only had the opportunity to participate in person, I would not have been able to participate.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Sure. Absolutely. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I appreciate it. The first top-line finding is that there is actually overwhelming support among MPs to continue to allow remote voting: 79% of respondents either somewhat or strongly agree that members on parental leave should be able to vote remotely.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The first point is that the allocation of speaking time is a separate issue from the mode through which parliamentarians engage in parliamentary debate. My inclination would be to put the question of how speaking time is allocated as a separate problem from hybridity. Assuming you can resolve that issue of how speaking time gets allocated, then if you have the option of hybridity on the table, which provides more opportunities for a wider range of folks to consider running for public office and then serving in public office—

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm wondering.... My apologies.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm wondering if you could perhaps connect the dots a little bit more clearly there. How is it that hybridity exacerbates the problems around how speaking time is allocated?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I'm going to add a few additional considerations to supplement Dr. Thomas's remarks about hybridity and core parliamentary functions. First, I want to speak very briefly about the downstream impacts of a more inclusive Parliament, and then I'd also like to share insights from some new research about MPs' attitudes towards hybridity.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Okay. Perfect. Thank you.