Mr. Chair, I know you know the Standing Orders very well, and some members may or may not.
We have had you canvass the room twice now on whether or not we can move to the question. Members should know in this place that in committees Standing Order 116 applies, and I will read it right here, Mr. Chair:
(1) In a standing, special or legislative committee, the Standing Orders shall apply so far as may be applicable, except the standing orders as to the election of Speaker, seconding of motions, limiting the number of times speaking and the length of speeches.
Then specifically, we have subsection 2, which is regarding end of debate. Paragraph (2)(a) says,
Unless a time limit has been adopted by the committee or by the House, the Chair of a standing, special or legislative committee may not bring a debate to an end while there are members present who still wish to participate. A decision of the Chair in this regard may not be subject to an appeal to the committee.
Mr. Chair, I don't want to bring us into a process in which you are put in a position of having members who still want to say their piece, and then you go ahead and overrule that or see it go to a vote.
Now, I know you wouldn't do that, Mr. Chair, because paragraph (b) would lead to this:
A violation of paragraph (a) of this section may be brought to the attention of the Speaker by any member and the Speaker shall have the power to rule on the matter. If, in the opinion of the Speaker, such violation has occurred, the Speaker may order that all subsequent proceedings in relation to the said violation be nullified.
I don't want to put you in a situation, Mr. Chair, in which I as a member, for whatever reason—other members wanting to hurry through a process—have to raise a question of privilege in the House and have the Speaker rule on it, and we come back here and essentially nullify the point and go back to the beginning of debate. I think that would be a serious waste of everyone's time and I think it would not be conducive to your reputation, Mr. Chair.
I'm going to do my best to make sure that I raise my hand clearly so that I get your attention. When you canvassed the room, when he asked the first time, we said no because we had members on the list, and we would just simply let him continue.
Now, getting back to the motion here, Mr. Chair—