I appreciate your comments, Mr. Anderson.
I do want to thank the members. We got off in the earlier part of our meeting to a bit of a rocky start, but I'm certainly doing my best to accommodate the needs of the committee. I appreciate the good discourse that we've had.
Mr. Valeriote, you asked a question of me earlier, just as we were about to begin here, about whether or not it had been determined at our organizational meeting how we're going to dispose of the bill through clause-by-clause. I've referred to the clerk, and I looked at the minutes from the meeting. While I can't discuss what's happened in an in camera meeting, what I can say is that there was no direction given to the chair in regard to that. But I will refer committee members to the Standing Orders, in particular to Standing Order 76.1(5) regarding the Speaker's power to select amendments.
If we were to proceed in camera for the clause-by-clause consideration of this legislation, we would put the Speaker in an unenviable position. I'll read this into the record:
The Speaker shall have power to select or combine amendments or clauses to be proposed at the report stage and may, if he or she thinks fit, call upon any Member who has given notice of an amendment to give such explanation of the subject of the amendment as may enable the Speaker to form a judgment upon it. If an amendment has been selected that has been submitted by more than one Member, the Speaker, after consultation, shall designate which Member shall propose it.
The note in the standing order says:
The Speaker will not normally select for consideration by the House any motion previously ruled out of order in committee and will normally only select motions which were not or could not be presented in committee. A motion, previously defeated in a committee, will only be selected if the Speaker judges it to be of such exceptional significance as to warrant a further consideration at the report stage.
And it goes on.
If we were to proceed to clause-by-clause consideration of this legislation in camera, we could have a situation where we would put the Speaker in an unenviable position of not being able to rule on a proposed amendment should one come forward at the report stage. He would not be able to refer to an in camera session of the meeting where any amendments could have been proposed to that legislation in camera. They would not be admissible on the floor of the House of Commons due to the rules we have.
Therefore, I will rule right now that unless otherwise directed by this committee, we will begin the clause-by-clause consideration of this bill in public.