Mr. Chairman, this motion is a continuation of suggestions that I have informally made to the committee about the issue of half-masting.
I have been advised that the government is very interested in receiving a report of this nature from the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, as we see this issue as truly being a totally non-partisan issue. We take a look at the motion that's presently before the House in the name of Mr. Telegdi, which has a tremendous amount of merit, but we believe that in taking a look at it, if we're only taking a look at the Peace Tower with respect to that motion, indeed it's probably deficient, in that we have to take a look at the entire practice, because what happens off the Hill and what happens on other public building will relate to what is happening on the Peace Tower.
That is the reason for the timing of the motion. It's something we have discussed for a period of time, and I would like to see this move forward in due course.
The acceptance of this motion, should it be the wisdom of the committee to vote in favour of this motion, does not imply that we would instantly drop everything, forget our CBC report or whatever else we are doing. It's one of the items of business. What it would be an indication of is that it's one of the items of business that this committee would undertake in due course, as time is available. That's the full extent of it. I think it's something that is overdue.
I might advise the committee that the government would be prepared to give the committee whatever assistance from whatever research that might be available from whatever sources and make it available so that we can have a very meaningful and very fulsome contribution. The committee would have a fulsome contribution to this question.