Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Unlike my colleagues across the way, we are most definitely prepared to support this amendment.
As you know, on this very important matter, we have made several attempts to obtain more accountability—some type of parliamentary oversight of arms exports. This is an issue Canadians are very concerned about. In the past few years, months even, we have seen too many problematic cases, whether we are talking about the situation with Saudi Arabia or the sale of helicopters to the Philippines. It is not a small minority of Canadians who find this troubling, but, rather, a large portion of the population.
We put forward what would have been a simple and effective solution, one that would have easily achieved the transparency the government is always promising but often fails to deliver on, unfortunately. Our proposal was to establish a subcommittee of sorts, made up of industry, defence, and foreign affairs stakeholders, to regularly examine issues related to Canada's arms exports.
Some of the members across the way may not have been here when we voted on the proposal, a few times, in fact, in a variety of forms. Unfortunately, it did not go through.
It is, however, a model being used elsewhere. Great Britain, for example, has such a committee. There are other examples we could easily look to for guidance. This would be an ideal solution. The committee we are envisioning could examine not just specific cases, but also major trends, and do so on an ongoing basis. For instance, it could look into the reasons why Canada's arms sales to the Middle East have doubled, or why we export more to the Middle East and less to NATO countries. We could have put that kind of committee in place.
I'd like to pick up on what my fellow member said. Although commercial confidentiality may be a concern, some things are very clear. Just take the case of Saudi Arabia. We don't need all the financial details in order to evaluate the situation in the country or the risk that Canadian arms could be used, possibly making Canada complicit in the events in Yemen. That would be a huge black mark on Canada's reputation.
Parliamentarians can and must address the issue. It is our role as representatives of the population, one that finds these situations very troubling.
In the absence of a standing committee with the ability to examine these issues, we can get behind the proposal put forward by my fellow member from the Groupe parlementaire québécois.
Is that the right name, Mr. Thériault?