Thanks a lot, Mr. Chair.
I clearly remember the four whips having a preliminary discussion during our meeting on Monday. For that reason, my whip colleagues will not be surprised by the wording of this motion.
I want to quickly explain the reason for this proposed amendment to the Standing Orders. Currently, I disagree with the Speaker on a number of issues concerning the rights of independent members.
Currently, there are three independent members of Parliament, Mr. Arthur, Mr. Comuzzi and Ms. Thibault. The Speaker is of the opinion that if an independent member does not use his right to speak and to ask questions in the House... According to the Speaker, the independents constitute a group. Consequently, based on his calculations, instead of calculating 1 independent member out of 181 opposition members, he calculates 3 independent members out of 181, which entitles them to 2 questions per week. I unequivocally disagree on this point. I met with the Speaker, and he told me that, since the Speaker always complies with the Standing Orders of the House, if the Standing Orders were amended, the Speaker would comply, as he always does.
I talked with my whip colleagues. You will see that based on the wording before you, it is possible to consider a party recognized by Elections Canada with less than 12 members and not recognized, therefore, by the House as a group of parliamentarians. Consequently, the leader of this party could be entitled to more than one question per week. My colleague Jay Hill raised this point in order to foster democracy. An independent member who is not affiliated with a recognized party will be considered to be an entity in and of itself. It's a matter of looking at the definitions of word "independent".
This is the amendment to the Standing Orders that you now have. The first case covers statements pursuant to Standing Order 31. An independent member may be recognized to one statement per week. The second case covers question period. An independent member may ask one question per week, without impairing the Speaker's discretionary power to look at the clock to see if there is any time remaining at the end of question period. If there is more activity during question period and there is no time remaining, the independent member might not have the right to ask a question. This is the purpose of the amendment I am submitting.