I want to make a few comments, Mr. Chair.
I want to choose my words carefully and I'll speak in French, even though the motion is only in English.
I've stated my support from the start, as long as the debate is orderly and sensible and the committee goes beyond the simple choice of two or three witnesses. Moreover, I never said that the study requires a report at this time. I'm fully aware that the study doesn't require a report. However, I said that the motion was introduced quickly. So much the better if you say that you prepared the motion and that you didn't submit it on the spur of the moment. That said, I'll make my first comment. If the motion had been prepared, it could have been translated into French.
I'll move on to my second comment. If the motion had been prepared and we had been able to discuss it, I could have been ready to submit suggestions for additional witnesses. We're being called upon, if I may say so, to vote on a well-intentioned but hurried motion.
I've always worked well with you, Mr. Davies. I don't see why we're at this point today. We're saying the same thing and we have very similar intentions. However, we're ultimately proposing different ways to achieve the same result.
Sometimes, we want to move faster, but we end up moving slower by going too fast. In the effort to move things forward, intentions are attributed to colleagues who have absolutely no desire to stand in your way. I'm as horrified as you are to have heard what was said and to not have obtained the answers that I would have wanted. Therefore, don't attribute intentions to me and don't put words in my mouth. I'm fully aware of what I said. We can check the preliminary transcripts.
I don't want to argue with you, because we get along well. I want us to work together to find a way to do better, because we can do much better. The important thing isn't us, here at the table, but the women who are currently waiting and being mutilated or tortured, as you were saying.
Unfortunately, we have only partial answers. I want to hear from the proper witnesses. There are more than three witnesses. Rest assured that we'll need more than three or four additional witnesses to really carry out work that does credit to the current Standing Committee on Health.
I'll stop here.