Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I guess this is going to be a session filled with fact-checking, because the reason Mr. Deltell's motion did not move forward actually was that it failed to get four signatures in order to do so, not at the decision of the government members.
In regard to Mr. Deltell's motion, it didn't even specify how many hours. Thankfully, Mr. Fergus put forward a motion that dealt with the details to bring something forward. Mr. Dusseault rightfully pointed out the fact that this is fitting in with the consultation period to hear about the white paper that was released by the Minister of Finance. If legislation should come forward, this committee, at such time, would have the opportunity, like we would for any other piece of legislation that is finance-related, to properly study it, write a report, draft recommendations, and make amendments.
I prefer not to waste the committee's time in dealing with hypotheticals but rather to get to the business of this House. I'm wondering if the Conservative members are actually suggesting that hearing from Canadians on their priorities for the 2018 budget is not important and that we should not be hearing from them, because Conservative members only want to talk about one thing. I think Canadians want to have the consultation process move forward and then have the minister take that information and determine how he wants to move forward in the form of legislation. At that time, it is for this committee to study it.
I think that having two hearings, plus one for the minister to appear, will allow for formal consultation from this committee to be sent to the minister for him to consider, and at such time as legislation comes forward, we'll move along in the normal process. I think hearing from Canadians on their priorities for the budget is quite significant and important. I would be shocked if Conservative members were no longer interested in that.