Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The historical aspect is worth discussing. The passport is a document that the vast majority of Canadians carry. It is something that is important to Canadians, as it's a form of citizenship. Many in this room have been at citizenship ceremonies where people have to put up their hand to swear allegiance to being a Canadian citizen. That's been lessened significantly, which I have a problem with. A legal document of citizenship is a critical document about our country, about our history.
If anybody ever asks me a question, I'm going to be dragging up history in whatever I talk about.
It does represent, as a legal document, a significant part about what we are in this country, so to have a discussion about why it was changed and the rationale....
I have a number of maple leaf ties. I love maple leaves and their beautiful colours. They're fantastic. I have no objection to maple leaves at all, but the historical aspect of this particular document, as I said, carries a sign of our citizenship that we travel with, and it is really important and something worth considering, so the rationale for changing it and the rationale for knowing why it's being recognized in the work that's in it now, other than the legal aspect of it that you must have in a critical security document.... I totally understand that. It's critical security. The Canadian passport is one of the most valued in the world, one of the ones that are blackmailed and copied, because it is such a recognized document out there as part of an important nationality.
I believe we should take a look at this and understand why these changes are being made and why what was there is important to our heritage.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.