Mr. Chair, I'll move something, before Ms. Bendayan.
Our position, meaning the position held by me and my colleagues Ms. Bendayan and Mr. Naqvi, on the issue concerning—
I'll continue in English.
The general proposition for the three Liberal members on whose behalf I'm speaking is that the basis of Mr. Motz's motion—and I tracked this language because it's in both the original and the second version—requires the assistance of legal expertise “independent of the Government of Canada”.
With respect to this motion, it seems like an implicit or veiled attack on the impartiality of the civil servants who serve this country. It is our view that rather than embarking upon the retainer for independent legal counsel and the process that that would undertake, and eating up the time that this committee could otherwise better spend on actually studying the issues that we've been charged to study pursuant to the House motion, and rather than undertaking the expense of such a retainer, we use the good offices of the civil servants who are employed to do exactly that, of which there are two options. There are Department of Justice counsel and there are also counsel that serve the Parliament of Canada, and there I'm referring to the law clerk to the House of Commons and the law clerk to the Senate.
It is our general proposition that this motion is not suitable, and we would be voting in favour of its defeat in its entirety.
Thank you.