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A. There’s both an official and an unofficial response to me from my former colleagues. Privately, most are very supportive. I would suggest that some might even be envious that I have the ability and the liberty to say things they wish they could say, but can’t.

Officially, they would say I made a big mistake and I was not a team player and that you can do more inside the tent than outside the tent. But privately they are, for the most part, very friendly.

Q. You describe people in the PMO as the kids in short pants. What do you mean by that?

A. They don’t actually wear short pants, but it’s a visual of very young individuals. You think of a five-year-old going to kindergarten wearing a little hat and short pants. It’s a description of individuals who generally are quite young in terms of years. But it’s not the age that’s the concern. It’s that these individuals lack the experience, the maturity, the life experience to go with the amount of responsibility, and quite frankly, the power that has been bestowed upon them.

Q. You have advocated the idea of bringing in someone from the outside to be Speaker who is not an MP. Tell me about that.

A. It would be an independent officer of Parliament. The problem with having an MP elected as the Speaker is that the election depends to a large extent on the popularity of that individual.

If you brought in an officer of Parliament, whether it was a superior court judge or a retired auditor general like Sheila Fraser, that would be a fantastic choice. Someone whose skin is thick enough and whose tenure is secure enough that they could enforce the rules of Parliament.