Thank you, Mr. Chair.
In fact, that is in line with the comment I wanted to make before the amendment was proposed.
Part 6 has 30 divisions. Without the amendment, the committee would probably consider 23 or 24 of them. Three groups of witnesses have been proposed. Considering the number of witnesses that the opposition parties might suggest, we are probably talking about five to eight witnesses for about 20 or 25 separate divisions that deal with very different topics.
For a committee that is supposed to oversee government spending, this approach is not responsible. There are circumstances where omnibus bills are appropriate, but if they are used systematically and if almost everything is buried in one single bill, this committee cannot do its job properly.
The opposition and the government want to hear from witnesses in order to ask them questions and to carefully examine the strengths and weaknesses of each of the proposed items. Given how much time we now have, there is no way we can do so properly.
I think the amendment brought forward by my colleague is a way to ensure better oversight of what the budget bill is proposing, but it is not enough to allow us to do the work that Canadians expect us to do.