Mr. Chairman, there were commitments made a little over a year ago to colleagues on both sides of the House which I said I would never breach and I will not. Notwithstanding the provocation, I will not breach those commitments. I live by the word I make. Even today, notwithstanding what is being said, I will not breach the commitment that I made to colleagues in the House. I will leave it at that on the score of this particular issue. The hon. member knows perfectly well to what I am referring.
In terms of the acceptability of the amendment, I do not believe this amendment makes the bill better at all. I will summarize what I said in the beginning for the benefit of all hon. members. I urge them to defeat that amendment. There is no such recommendation in the report. It is not in keeping with the tradition under which we have operated in the past. It does not make the bill better. It makes it worse. The bill works perfectly well. As it is now it works even better. This amendment is not progressive. As a matter of fact, in my view it is a step backwards.