We have an amendment, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chair, maybe in keeping with a good spirit here in starting off this 39th Parliament in the health committee, maybe just about all members of the committee would be agreeable to the idea of keeping everything as it is except for the last part, which says “and that subsequent questions be alternately shared between government and opposition members, at the discretion of the Chair.”
I would move an amendment to say “and that subsequent questions ensure that all members of the committee wishing to speak have the opportunity to do so, and after such time questions be alternately shared between government and opposition members, at the discretion of the Chair”.
That's all we're trying to do here. We're very flexible in terms of the amount of time and the fact that the official opposition gets the two first spots. We're simply trying to ensure that every member of the committee is able to put forward his or her views before another member speaks twice. And the crux of this—at least in the committee I was part of in the last Parliament—really becomes the New Democratic Party, in that there is a reason why we have different numbers of Liberal members, Bloc Québécois members, and NDP members. And regarding Ms. Priddy, as much as I've enjoyed her interventions in the House and know that she's going to have a very valuable input to this committee, I don't believe she should be allowed to speak twice before members who haven't even spoken for a first time.
That's my amendment, Mr. Chair.