Mr. Chair, I will not deny that I am highly skeptical of what is going on right now. In light of Ms. Sahota's amendment, two passages in the main motion seemed problematic to our colleagues on the government side, and I honestly believe that my subamendment changed them in a way that made the motion acceptable.
Is this the ideal motion that our colleagues on the government side would have imagined in their wildest dreams? I am well aware that it is not. However, since Ms. Sahota was not proposing that we remove or change anything else in the motion, could we, in the interest of cooperation, agree to leave it at that and avoid further prolonging this discussion?
I confess I am at a loss as to what to do. I had scribbled down another proposed amendment, but Mr. Oliphant put his forward, and Ms. Fry isn't even satisfied with that. So we may have a debate among Liberals as to whether Mr. Oliphant's proposal is appropriate. It seems to me that everything is being set up to ensure we don't resolve this and we can't reach a compromise.
Once again, I am a little puzzled, not to say disappointed, by what is going on. I will go ahead and read you what I had scribbled down anyway, and you can tell me what you think.
First, I am not a scientist like Ms. Fry, but I consider myself to be a relatively well-informed person who goes to the trouble of following what is being written on the subject. My understanding is that vaccination really does seem to be a good way to keep the variants from spreading as well. So the longer we delay vaccination, the more the variants will be able to spread among people, with extremely damaging effects. So I would not change that part of the motion. However, I would replace “The committee further recognizes that this failure by the government to secure domestic supply makes Canadians more vulnerable” with “These supply issues make Canadians more vulnerable”.
I was hoping to be able to find a solution with this new wording, but I must admit I am increasingly convinced that the government members do not wish to come to a solution. They find such intricate ways to keep going round and round, to prevent us from finding a solution.
I quite honestly confess to you that I don't know what to do anymore. I feel we are wasting time and, meanwhile, we're not doing anything useful. I am disappointed.