Thank you, Chair.
I'd just like to correct the record on a few points, or at least start with these comments.
Mr. Easter mentioned that we didn't get the report completed because of prorogation, and that's not quite right. In fact the government position was that we should indeed finish the report before breaking for Christmas. That was our steady position. What the opposition kept doing, Chair, was throwing motions on the table. It was motion after motion after motion, which was actually obstructing our ability to finish the report.
I remember clearly we had one meeting where we went through as many motions as we could to get them off the table so we could move on with the report, and then more motions were thrown on the table. So the prorogation had nothing to do with whether or not this committee was able to complete the report before we rose for Christmas.
The second thing that needs to be stated for the record, Chair, is that Mr. Bellavance and Mr. Easter both said that prorogation has caused a five-month delay, and that is quite an exaggeration. Prorogation was 22 working days, that's it. Here we are, and just to listen to the comments of Mr. Bellavance and Mr. Easter, we're right back in the scenario of where we were before Christmas, which is before we tackle the report there were all of these motions. Mr. Easter has kindly put five motions on the table. Mr. Atamanenko has two motions on the table. If we start dealing with these again before the report, I just think it's not paying tribute to the work we have invested in the report to this date.
I would like to remind my colleagues that we have worked on this report for over a year. We have pulled in witnesses from across the country from all sectors of the agricultural community. I could ask the analysts, but I imagine we have hundreds of pages of testimony, and we have a draft report that has already been prepared and we are part-way through it. I agree with Mr. Atamanenko: I don't believe there's a lot of work left to do on that report. I think we should make that our priority because of the time and the money that has been invested in that report and that study to date. Then we can move on with these other issues Mr. Easter has mentioned, because there are other priorities.
I agree that there are priorities that we need to look at as a committee. But my fear--and it's the same fear that actually came to be realized before Christmas--is that if we keep dealing with motions it will never end. We will never get around to the report, because once we do the motion we have to work on that motion. So we should finish the report. Let's focus on that as a committee. Let's publish the report. We owe that to our farmers. We owe that to the Canadian public. Let's table our report in the House and then move on with other business.
I think if we get that order mixed up, Chair, we're going to run into the same problem we ran into before Christmas, which is time will pass, the report will remain undone, and that's a discredit to the committee, because we have worked quite collaboratively on that report. I actually feel it was a very constructive exercise for the committee and I think there are good recommendations in there for farmers that can be tabled in the House. It would be to our credit to do that sooner rather than later.