Very quickly, I appreciate my colleagues keeping the remarks brief and then we'll go strictly to a vote.
The government will be voting against the motion, David, and I'll tell you why.
Independents, frankly, do have an opportunity to participate in this committee as witnesses. Mr. Bill Casey will be coming. As you know, Bill was an independent in the last term of office. We've also stated that at any time if you want to expand the list of witnesses and bring independent members to come and testify, you can certainly do so. Their voices will be heard.
But, primarily, it will be setting, I believe, a very bad precedent. One can certainly make the argument that independents should be at every committee discussing legislation. That's not the way the Standing Orders have been developed, and there are reasons for that. We have a history of well over 100 years as to why that has taken place, so we want to continue on with that tradition. If we want to hear the opinions of independent members on how this bill affects them, we have the opportunity to do so.