Thanks, Chair.
I thank my honourable friend for his observations. He has great experience, and reflects that in his comments.
Chair, I was wondering whether through you I could ask the member a question.
Am I correct, in extrapolating the argument you're making, to include the fact if this were a give-and-take discussion, a real discussion, like the ones we've had in the past and you're alluding to, and this was really what we were engaged in here, not only would we have an opportunity to have a healthy and wholesome debate around the proposals of the government but it equally would afford the opposition an opportunity to put items on the floor too?
Right now the only thing we're focusing on is the demand list in that discussion paper from the government. Yet it would seem to me that what would be most productive, based on the history you're reflecting on—I was part of those discussions at different times throughout different Parliaments—if we had that kind of understanding where we were really going to respect one another, where nobody was reserving the right to say that if they lost the debate they were going to ram through the result they wanted. If that were removed, would it not, in that healthy environment, provide an opportunity for members of the opposition to put front and centre, and to have equal weight of consideration, changes that we think would improve the business of Parliament and the representation we're all here to give, rather than be reduced to one discussion paper, the demands of the government, and their position that we can have all the discussion we want, but if they don't like the result, they're going to use their majority vote to ram it through?
Would the honourable member agree that going to a process that allows that kind of respect, in which nobody is reserving the right to ram through a result when they're not happy with fair discussion, would actually lead to new ideas from the opposition, given that the opposition as well as the government has positive contributions to make to our Parliament?
I pose that question to my honourable friend.