Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I would also like to thank all of you, and my colleagues Mrs. Shanahan and Mr. Sorbara for their very interesting and educational interventions. I also want to acknowledge the other interventions, even though they were points of order. This may demonstrate to the general public listening to us the importance of having this debate.
For those who are following our discussion closely today, I will be very frank. Several reasons have been listed as to why the motion is not acceptable to half of the committee members. I will also list my concerns with this motion. One of our colleagues has put forward a motion that the other half of the committee finds quite acceptable. So we are in the awkward situation of having half of the committee in favour of the motion and the other half against the motion. What do we do in this situation? I am speaking directly to Canadians.
Either we discuss and try to convince others of the merits of the arguments we're making, or we ask for unanimous consent to withdraw the motion, as Mr. Sorbara mentioned. There is a third option, and that is to ask for an adjournment of the debate to move on to something else. This option would fully preserve the right of a member to reintroduce this motion for debate at a later date in the hope that it will receive a greater consensus than is currently the case. Yes, we're at an impasse with half the members in favour of the motion and half against the motion.
Mr. Chair, if I could, I would like to advise my colleagues that I have a lot to say about this motion. I know this is a question you ask from time to time. Unfortunately, my comments won't be very brief, and I would like to warn you of that. If you don't want to listen to me and you have other things to do, you can do your job, but I want to be transparent with my colleagues. I hope that will make it easier.