Mr. Chairperson, I was in fact getting to that point.
Suddenly the discussion is not about the ways and means motion and the tax on income trusts and all of the other provisions, but about the broad issue. He's suggesting that we have these hearings notwithstanding everything that is in the ways and means motion, which is everything listed by the parliamentary secretary in her motion that she presented to this committee.
So I ask you, Mr. Chairperson, what is the point of this meeting? What is the urgency? What are we trying to do here? These two parties are making us the laughingstock of Parliament across the country. How much money have we spent to bring all of us here, to use all of the staff, for a day of discussion on a vague, innocuous project that has no purpose and no clear agenda?
I would speak against the amendment and against the motion. I would like to hear some reasons why we should actually go outside of the parliamentary process and get this committee involved in extra hearings on an issue that doesn't appear to be urgent. If we're not talking about the bill, then what's the urgency? If it's to have vague hearings, then I would suggest to Mr. Paquette that he put that on the agenda when we meet in the next hour and we will all discuss our priorities. I for one have a number of issues that I think should be dealt with on an urgent basis--for example, the Bank Act.