Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have three very specific comments I want to make, all of which I think are very strictly relevant to the question before us, the amendment that's been proposed by Mr. Van Kesteren.
And in saying this, I am simply responding to comments made by other committee members, because I know you're anxious to make sure we stay relevant here. When people say things in the committee, we're all speaking with the intention of trying to cause others to consider voting the way that we are leaning towards voting. Therefore, it's important for me, if I hear something that I think was incorrectly stated, to set the record straight, and this is what I'm trying to do in my first comment.
Mr. Martin, in his comment, said this is a public document; these guys are members of the government; they have access to it; they've had access to this stuff, I think he said, for a week. I understand why he might think that, but actually there are several misstatements, or errors, in that.
One is that we're actually not members of the government. We are members of the Conservative Party. We certainly support the government, but in terms of actually being office holders, sworn in, that sort of thing.... A lot of committees have parliamentary secretaries, and this is an exception, so--