Good morning, everybody, and thank you for this opportunity. I want to build on Mr. Brassard's comments and on Dr. Duncan's and maybe vent a bit.
I have the utmost respect, as you know, for all of my colleagues here who have gone around in the line of questioning in the discussions, but I just want to speak about some of what I feel is a misleading perception that some members are advocating. We keep talking about a return to normal and the fear of that or what the consequences would be of a return to normal.
Respectfully, from what I've seen over the course of the last several days of our conversations about non-virtual or different options, I don't think that anybody here on this committee is advocating for a full return of 338 members into the chamber—nor are many parliamentarians—and having all of the staff and support staff there. Some questions were asked about the number of people in a normal working day. I agree with what I think Dr. Raymond said, which is that the new normal is going to be different from the normal that we had before.
I certainly agree with that, but I fear that there is a perception out there, perhaps from Canadians who are listening to this and thinking that there's not physical distancing or that we're jeopardizing the health of each other by perhaps meeting in some ratio format continually in West Block. Ms. Blaney was one who was there. I waved to her from the gallery at the first emergency sitting. Mr. Gerretsen was there as well. I was a backup member, but I got to see it first-hand, and I have to say that the House of Commons administration did an excellent job from a health perspective when it came to our safety.
The physical distancing was I think very well done. I noted what Ms. May said at one point, which I respect, about the opposition lobbies and some of the walking there, but I think that other [Technical difficulty—Editor].