Mr. Chair, I'm a little perplexed. Mr. Christopherson asked quite reasonably for tabling of a motion. We don't have answers to the questions we've just asked. Mr. Reid was unable to answer. The clerk has asked for a couple of days. I'm very surprised that when a motion is brought forward and questions are raised, the government doesn't have an answer, and when the clerk very responsibly asks for time to get those answers, the government majority then decides they're not going to accept tabling.
It's a very strange precedent. I'm new to the committee, but I'm very perplexed. I thought Mr. Reid had presented this in good faith. We've now found, after a couple of rounds of questions, by Mr. Christopherson, Mr. Lamoureux, and Ms. May, that there are some real concerns about this. What this could indeed do is limit the parliamentary privileges of independent and non-recognized party members. If that is the case, if the goal is to limit, I'm quite concerned about the direction of the government. If the government is presenting this in good faith, which I hope is the case, then the government needs to support the idea of getting the information that members have just asked for.
I really don't understand why government members would oppose tabling when we've just heard from the clerk that we need a couple of days to get further information.
Mr. Chair, I have to question the real intent of the motion. If the intent is to further members' participation, which we all welcome, then that's something that I think we could all support, as Mr. Christopherson clearly indicated. That's fine, but we obviously need some more information, and we need to consider this at the next meeting.
If the intent is to try to ram this through, then I suspect the intention is very much to limit the participation of members like Ms. May. If what the government is attempting to do is limit the participation of non-recognized parties and independents, then I have real concerns. I couldn't support this motion if that's the intent.
It's very unclear. We have Mr. Reid explaining it one way and then the government voting another way. Please let us take the time to get the information that members need so that we can then have a fulsome debate and make a decision.