I'm happy to speak.
Mr. Chair, the reason for my earlier intervention, in terms of questioning whether this motion was in order, goes back to the issue raised during the last Parliament before this committee. There was extensive debate and discussion about a different motion that was ultimately put before this committee, and that issue was so contested by all the parties that ultimately it landed in the lap of the Speaker. The Speaker himself, at your request, made a ruling as to whether the root motion, which we're kind of addressing here, was in order.
I will unpack this in just a minute. My question to you, Mr. Chair, is whether the committee can actually pick up on a study that you yourself, as chair, ruled out of order in a previous Parliament.
Let's think about this. When the motion came forward, after extensive debate, you ruled that a motion that did not address public office-holders--we all agreed that it did not; there were no public office-holders present during that 2006 election--was out of order. It was acknowledged that political parties are not public officer-holders, so they were not appropriately addressed. Based on that ruling and based on Standing Order 108(3)(h)(v), it was your conclusion that the motion was out of order. It was only as a result of the strong-arming of this committee, breaking all reason and direction provided by the Standing Orders, that we were forced into this study in the first place.
You brought this to the Speaker's attention after that, and I quote the Speaker's ruling, because he cites your efforts. This was March 14, 2008--