I don't intend to filibuster. I simply want to raise some points that I consider important. When a person decides to filibuster, it is preferable that that person prepare. The Chairman was reading the minutes to see what had happened. He gave his consent, saying that you can do it, but that you have to say in your place. That's what's called filibustering.
Currently, we're practically seeing a filibuster in disguise for which you're giving your consent. The government party comes here, filibusters for two hours, without any difficulty, and, at the end of those two hours, you signal the end with your hammer. There's no cooperation with those who constitute the majority on the committee.
It must be kept in mind that the government is a minority, not a majority government and respect that. The majority of committee members wanted to continue. You didn't obtain a consensus, and you didn't seek one. I personally asked you at one meeting what was scheduled for one o'clock. You could have answered that, at one o'clock, we would discuss, as a group, what we were going to do and decide together whether to continue or to stop. However, you answered that we would see at one o'clock.
That kind of attitude is unacceptable and intolerable. I can't stand it. If someone has the strength to speak for five, 10 or 20 hours, let him be prepared and do it. We're going to stay in this room until he has finished. To my knowledge, this committee is the only one where I can accuse the Chairman of being partial. I say that because of the way in which you have acted. You gave the party that filibustered the opportunity to do it for the next year. That's unacceptable. That has to stop at some point, that is to say when the party is exhausted. You do nothing to stop that. You don't give a chance to the majority of members of this committee, who, as the Speaker of the House of Commons so often says, are masters of their own destiny.
We can't be masters of our own destiny if the Chairman leans to one side. The Chairman must be independent. Based on my criteria, you were not independent when you acted in that manner. It is with regret—and I want this to go on the record—that I'm going to second the motion that we request your resignation, but I no longer have confidence in you. As Chairman, you have had the opportunity to do your work by being impartial, enforcing the Standing Orders as is fit. However, in 10 and a half years, I have never seen a Chairman in the House of Commons who, in a filibuster, adjourned at one o'clock in order to afford the speaker the opportunity to rest or adjourned the meeting to allow the witness to leave or the speaker to go to the washroom. I've never seen that.
As stated in the Standing Orders, the first and second Vice-Chairs have a responsibility to take over when the Chair must be absent. In the same way, if a member has to be absent, he may be replaced by one of his colleagues.
For all these reasons, Mr. Chairman, I cannot support you as committee Chairman.
Thank you.