Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I must say that I'm very disappointed to see this motion being brought forward by the Liberals.
First of all, I think that as a committee we should apologize to the important witnesses who have been invited here. We didn't finish hearing the first panel, and then there's a second panel that we're missing.
This motion has essentially hijacked the process. We're hearing even less. I guess I'm really disappointed because for month after month, we heard witnesses coming here and providing valuable input to this committee from coast to coast, from every province and from Quebec. The least we could do is take them seriously and make sure that what we put forward is not just a report, but an excellent report. That's what we want to do.
I know the Conservative Party and Conservative members on this committee want to have a bill that is excellent.
What is going on here? I have to ask myself why the Liberals would do this. It would seem like they're being supported by the NDP, but time will tell. Why would the Liberals just try to ramrod this report?
I think one reason is that we heard many testimonies from many witnesses who shared their frustration on how the bill has been delayed year after year and nothing happened. Now it seems to me that what the Liberals wanted to do was bring out a report and get it through right now, so that they can maybe say that the reason this has all been delayed for these years has nothing to do with them. They wash their hands clean of all the incompetence and delay. They speak out of both sides of their mouth in support of the bill, but they show us something else. I think that's what this motion seems to be. They're trying to focus the blame.
I also think that this motion is a way of maybe hiding their own ministers by trying to pack them all into one hour. They are the ones who know the files and they can best answer the questions that will help us with the report. This is very important.
It seems to me that a lot of this is show and limiting the amount of time. It is very disrespectful to the committee and to Parliament to say that it has to be done by December 1—and we're losing this whole meeting today—or we're going to give it to the power of the chair to do what he wants to do with the amendments.
This is just inappropriate. It's railroading the committee. This is not the way the committee needs to be functioning—in a way that's collaborative, which we have been doing. As has been mentioned, all the members here want to see this bill go forward.
Now I'd like to turn it over to my colleague, Mr. Godin.