Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chair, the amendment that has been made to the motion that I presented on Friday substantially changes its intent. The intent is to get the charter statement sooner rather than later, and that, of course, is so that we know the foundation on which we are debating this legislation. Does it hold up to the charter, given that proposed section 4.1 has now been removed from the bill? I believe that the only way we can answer this question is by submitting it for review and requesting the statement.
Given that the member opposite has asked for that request to be removed, I cannot support the amendment that she has brought forward.
In addition to that, if I understood her amendment correctly, it says “as soon as possible” rather than “the next 10 days”. I'm not sure, and maybe I misunderstood it, but if that is the case, I'm confused as to why we would move in the direction of removing the amendment that was just approved, which is the 10-day clause. I think it's appropriate. The previous amendment strengthened my motion, so I was more than happy to support the 10 days, and it has already been passed.
Again I'll draw attention to the fact that this charter statement is of great importance. A number of qualified individuals have indicated that they have significant concerns. Indeed, I believe that Canadians are rightly concerned, as we have heard over the last number of days and seen reported in the media.
We can also see that the minister, Mr. Guilbeault, is clearly unable to defend the removal of proposed section 4.1 and is unable to communicate to Canadians clearly why that would be necessary. He's also unable to communicate to them where their individual rights to post content of their choice still remain protected. That being the case, I again ask that this review be done.