Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We'll call the meeting to order.
I would like to advise all members of the committee that the meeting today is public.
Today we are considering the report from the Subcommittee on Private Members’ Business on the matter of Bill C-291. As you know, the Subcommittee on Private Members’ Business has recommended in its first report that the private member's bill in question be deemed non-votable. The purpose of the meeting today is to consider whether this committee concurs.
Pursuant to our Standing Orders, we have this morning Mr. Leon Benoit, member of Parliament for Vegreville—Wainwright. Mr. Benoit has brought some guests, some speakers, to assist him. Mr. Benoit wishes, pursuant to our rules, to testify and to make his case, as it were, before the committee, sort of an appeal to our committee, on this matter of the first report.
I would ask you, Mr. Benoit, to proceed with any statement you wish to make. I'm going to grant you as much time as you need. If you want to introduce your guests, this would be an appropriate time to do that.
Following Mr. Benoit's statement, we will open to our standard round of questioning--eight minutes on the first round, then five minutes, and so on. Hopefully we can keep questions and answers very brief so that we can get as much information as we can.
I will tell the committee that we are instructed to make a decision on this issue today. We are responsible for that. There are no provisions for a delay or adjournment on this issue. We need to make a decision today.
Mr. Proulx, a comment?