As well, we have the deputy whip of our party, Mr. Harold Albrecht. Of course, we have our caucus chair, Mr. Lauzon. Mr. Scott Reid and I will be the two veterans of the committee.
On behalf of all government members, I first want to thank Michel and Rodger for their very kind words. Without question, and without assigning blame to anyone, last year's committee didn't end well. We all know that. I'm very encouraged to hear the words of Michel and Rodger. I want to underscore the fact that we completely support those words. We all know--at least the people who have been on this committee for many years know--that the purpose of this committee is to work on behalf of all parliamentarians to establish or change standing orders, and to work on matters that concern all parliamentarians, whether they relate to security or other issues that affect all of us.
I have always known that this committee is intended to be probably the least partisan of the 27 standing committees that we have in Parliament. I will give you our assurances, as well--although there will be times, I'm sure, when there will be differences of opinion. The intention of this government and of the members of this committee is to work as cooperatively as we possibly can and to actually get some work done on this committee. A failure occurred last year, and we don't intend to have that happen again, I'm sure.
Thank you very much for your kind words. You can count on us to work as cooperatively as we possibly can.