I've heard different conversations about how divided this is in terms of the issue. I'll refer to, interestingly enough, a former NDP cabinet minister in Manitoba, Sidney Green, who said:
The election of a minority government has resulted in a curious anomaly. The combined opposition is in a position where it believes that it can pass legislation in direct conflict with the position of the government. Indeed, the combined opposition, simply to flex its muscles, has given second reading to legislation that no party seeking to become the federal government ever included as a plank in its election platform.
Mr. Coderre just spoke to this and flexed his muscles, so to speak, to remind us that they have seven members and we have four combined.
This is obviously a highly political issue. It's very important for us to give assurance to both sides on this issue that we will hear all of the witnesses on both sides. I don't believe we've done that so far, in terms of the working schedule we were looking at.
I think Mr. Regan, Ms. Brown, and Ms. Lavallée referred to six meetings as being a bit of an issue. I'm curious to hear their thoughts. I'm open to an amendment, if they have a different thought. I just want to make sure we're not confining this thing in order to jam this through. I want some assurance from the other side that we're going to give this a fair hearing. I don't believe at this point we have that assurance.