I do have more to say, for sure. I won't be as long as I was at the last meeting. I promise that. You never know, I suppose, but I don't plan to be. I do have a few more things I'd like to say at this point.
I know some of my colleagues had a few things they'd like to say.
I may want to look at maybe moving an amendment at some point as well, but I'll let some of my colleagues have a chance to have a say first, so maybe you could just add me back on the list and if I choose to do that amendment, I can do it at that point.
I obviously outlined some of my concerns last time around, primarily with the Standing Orders changes. Last time I did lay out some of the background of the changes that were attempted in the last Parliament and why it was so important that in order to make those kinds of changes there be agreement among all parties on the principle that all members are affected by those changes as well as how critical that is.
In the last Parliament when the government tried to move forward with changes that weren't supported by opposition parties, it was something that both we, the Conservatives, and the NDP at that time were strongly opposed to. We were concerned about that sort of plan to move forward without having worked with the opposition parties and without having arrived at a consensus with everybody. We remain concerned about that.
There were indications given that some conversations had occurred prior to this being brought forward. I certainly was not aware of those, and when I talked to my other colleagues on the committee, they didn't seem to be aware of them either.
It was something that came before us as a bit of a surprise, and I do remain concerned about the idea that we would make these kinds of changes without everyone agreeing. As a point, at the last meeting I said I was concerned about the changes because I am a fiscal conservative, and we would be looking at adding an extra salary for, I think.... How many committees are there?