I too would like to indicate how worthy I think Mr. Owen's motion is. But I have serious reservations about the two recommendations.
As regards the second recommendation, I wonder if the clerk could enlighten us about its legality. Can our committee impose an agenda on the next Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs that will be struck after the next general election? I do not think that we can make commitments on behalf of the next Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs.
He is asking, and I quote, that: “2. immediately following Canada's next federal general election, the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs study the impact of this legislation [...]”
We are always told that committees are masters of their own procedure. So I do not think that it is legal to commit the committee after an election, because this committee dies if the House of Commons prorogues or if there is a general election. For me, there are legal concerns if we commit the next committee to doing something.
Secondly, the first recommendation reads as follows: “1. that the Minister for Democratic Reform immediately begins consultations [...]” I think that is our job as a committee. Perhaps when we come back in September, we could ask the chair to write to representatives of financial institutions, who certainly had good reasons not to accept the invitation that we sent them. The chair of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs could write a letter to representatives of financial institutions to ask them what they think of the bill. There is absolutely no need to ask the minister responsible for democratic reform to do it for us.
For those reasons, therefore, I am not very keen on supporting Mr. Owen's motion.