Mr. Chair, I just wanted to emphasize that the Liberal Party believes it's absolutely essential that we provide the Green Party, the Bloc party, those that are classified technically as independents, the opportunity to come before committee and be engaged in the process.
We're talking about our Elections Act. This is a pillar of our democracy. We're all familiar with the manner in which this government has been forcing this legislation through. We understand there are no other political entities in Canada that are supporting this legislation outside of the Conservative Party, and we should be affording them the opportunity to sit at this table and participate in some of the dialogue that is taking place in regard to a very important piece of legislation. One could ultimately argue that an election law is a pillar of our democracy. They have a right, I would argue, to be sitting at this table. We would ask the government to respect that right and allow them that opportunity. That's the only thing that's going to prevent them; there's no doubt. The only thing that will prevent them is a government decision to disallow that political engagement from the Green Party and the Bloc party, which we think would be a mistake.