Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Genuis, for letting me intervene.
I would just like to speak to this question of privilege in the House that you're raising, with respect to the motion that was raised and the process there. I feel compelled to speak, as the member who moved the motion to bring the question of privilege to this committee and to have it studied at this committee. The reason I brought that motion is that we know that PROC is the committee that the question of privilege that was raised would be brought to.
As I have said in the House, this is an important question that we need to look at, and one that we need to spend some time on, because the issue has come up in the last couple of years a couple of times. We know that whatever we've done in the past is not enough to correct the situation, so it is a situation that we do need to turn our minds to at PROC. We know that parliamentarians are working so hard. Oftentimes, those who are working even harder, who may not have the time to get here because they've taken an extra appointment or whatever, need to be assured that when they do make an attempt to get here, they are unfettered and can get here to exercise their vote on behalf of their constituents.
I first want to say that this is an important matter that we do have to look at. That's why I brought forward the motion to bring it to this committee.
The current status of this is that the Speaker did make a ruling that a prima facie case of a question of privilege was there, but then there was an amendment to that motion. The amendment was that it would take precedence at this committee. The result of that would mean that we would stop what we are doing right now and that the motion would be discussed. It would circumvent the business of this committee.
Then, further to that, as I understand it, another subamendment was passed, which put an end date to the time that this committee had to study that.
The point I want to make about that is that I believe it's important that committees be the masters of their agendas. The committees know the work that's ahead of them. They are the ones that should be organizing the order in which they study things, and the priority in which they study them.
I don't know of any other committee that doesn't do that. The concern here is that we don't want to usurp the ability of a committee to determine what it is studying by having a motion brought from the House mandating to committees the order in which they have to study things, and mandating to committees how things are to be done.
I just wanted to get that on the record. I did not bring the motion forward because I didn't think it was an important issue. It is an important issue. But I think it is equally important that committees be the masters of their agendas, that committee members be able to speak and dialogue, and that the committee as a whole decide on what matters they are going to hear and the order in which they're going to hear them.