After taking Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz to task for making a mid-campaign apology over his remarks during the listeriosis outbreak from the steps of a Parliament Hill building, Political Bytes couldn't help but notice that NDP Leader Jack Layton was on the Hill today to make a campaign announcement on food safety.

A flurry of e-mails and phone calls later, it turns out the rules about this are as complicated, and filled with as many areas of exclusive jurisdiction, as Canadian federalism itself. Here's how it works — we think: The Speaker of the House of Commons has jurisdiction over what happens inside the Parliament Buildings. And in a memo sent to MPs after the election was called, Speaker Peter Milliken reminded them that the re-election of MPs is not considered to be within the exercise of their parliamentary functions. That means, none of the resources provided to members by the House of Commons can be used to that end, including but not limited to their offices, office supplies, internet sites and communication devices such as BlackBerries. So, for example, putting campaign signs in the windows of any parliament buildings is strictly a no-no. But what about outside the buildings, such as the lawn and steps in front of the buildings? Can they be used to further a political party's election purposes? Well, the responsibility for those public areas around Parliament rests with the Heritage Department's Committee on the Use of Parliament Hill. Calls to the department elicited the following information:

• The committee's guidelines contain no specific regulations that apply during elections.
• Demonstrations are allowed, as long as there are no props, banners, signs, advertising, stage, shelter or structure. Microphones and a podium are permitted.

So, it appears Gerry Ritz and Jack Layton were within their rights to make their announcements during the campaign, as long as they weren't physically inside any of the Parliament buildings. But not so fast. There's some question, under the rules prohibiting the use of banners and signs, of whether Layton's podium should have had the orange and green Jack Layton poster plastered on the front.

— Chris Hall