PrivilegeWatch 2011 (Day One) - Liveblogging Procedure and House Affairs

The morning kicks off with a bit of in camera business -- specifically, the draft report on the Ullyatt Affair, which is apparently still in the works -- but at 10:30 sharp, the doors will swing open to admit the throng of reporters, staffers and other committee camp followers, as well as the very first witness: House of Commons Law Clerk Rob Walsh, who will, presumably, provide a quick refresher course on parliamentary privilege and the power to send for persons, papers and records. Next on the list: Information Commissioner Suzanne Legault; it's not clear what, exactly, she'll be discussing, as the aforementioned PPR powers are entirely independent from the ATI regime, but I'm sure that whatever she has to say, it will be fascinating.

After that, it's a one hour break for lunch -- get ready for a rare mid-break-week rush, fifth floor cafeteria staff -- and when the committee reconvenes this afternoon, members will find themselves very nearly outnumbered by the pantheon of witnesses who will have arrayed themselves on the other side of the table to provide backup, in the form of bureaucratic human shields -- to  Public Safety Minister Vic Toews and Justice Minister Rob Nicholson.

It is, of course, the ministers who are ultimately on the hook for the decision to withhold documents related to the government's law-and-order agenda from the the House, but that stark fact notwithstanding, the pair will, it seems, be accompanied by no less than ten (10) departmental heads: not just their respective deputies (Public Safety DM William Baker and Justice ADM Yves Cotes), but National Parole Board executive vice-chair Marie France Pelletier, RCMP senior deputy commissioner Rod Knecht, Canada Border Services Agency president Luc Portelance, CSIS Director Richard Fadden -- yes, that Richard Fadden -- and even Director of Public Prosecutions Brian Saunders, who last hit the news just few weeks back over his decision to give the go-ahead to Elections Canada to file charges against four former and current Conservative Party officials over the in-and-out election finance scheme.