My voice isn't loud enough? It doesn't happen often that people tell me that I'm being too shy. I apologize profusely to the interpreters, as well as to the Canadians who are watching us.
I think one of the ways to which we could improve the motion would be to limit the number of witnesses that we would invite for the study. We could avoid inviting the same witnesses that have testified before the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, because they would simply repeat their testimony.
I heard my honourable colleague say that we have to do a better study of the issue than the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. I don't agree. I believe the best course of action would be to widen the scope of the study proposed by the motion. I see the sponsor of the motion nodding, and I hope he will agree. Rather than limiting ourselves to one country, in this case China, it might be better to look at all the other countries that are acting in bad faith.
Everyone knows that China is guilty of interference and meddles in our elections. But we know very well that Russia also does the same thing and, increasingly, Iran. We know that there are actors present in various countries, even in allied and friendly countries, who act in bad faith. Maybe we should widen the scope of what we study. In that way, we would, at the very least, accomplish more than what my colleague is proposing.
I do not wish to repeat myself nor go against the instructions given at the beginning of the meeting before I had the opportunity to speak, but if we do the almost exact same work as another committee, we are wasting our time.
If my colleagues agree to do things differently and widen the scope of the study, that could make things more palatable. I think that that would be a good idea. I have proposed a way of going forward. I see my colleagues' reactions, which leads me to understand that they might have something to propose. For my part, I believe that this would be a good way to proceed and would make the motion more acceptable. I hope that we will have a consensus amongst committee members to widen the scope of the motion.
I don't want to take up too much time. I will let another member speak.
I hope that someone will propose an amendment to recognize the relevance of my objections. That said, I hope that we will get the chance to do real work that is more relevant. I don't want our work to duplicate that of another committee.
Thank you.