Mr. Chairman, I thank my honourable colleague, Mr. Van Kesteren, very much for that. I appreciate the sentiment of what he's trying to do. In many cases I would agree with that amendment. The one word, though, that is challenging for me is the word “reconsider”.
We heard from the gentleman from ACOA when I asked him point-blank if there has been any reconsideration, if they will rethink it. When I asked him if the decision was final he said yes, even though when I asked him to take the decision back to government, he said that he would. He told us that the decision was more or less a fait accompli and that was it, and I firmly believe that if we ask the government to reconsider, they'll say, “Well, that's nice, but no, we've already done it”.
As much as I'd like to agree with my colleague on the amendment, I would have to say no. It's the word “reconsider” that I would find most difficult to agree with.
Thank you.