Mr. Chair, Mr. Martin told me to come to this committee.
Yes, I was listening to the emerging consensus at the last meeting. I was listening to the discussion. What I believe occurred was that Campaign 2000 then subsequently had a meeting and insisted it was very important, that there are some timelines and some targets and that it was critically important to have that as part of the motion. What they are afraid of is a repeat of what happened 20 years ago when there was really no set percentage, etc., in the motion that was passed in the House of Commons. So they wish to have this 50% reduction by 2020.
Mr. Martin asked me to come and vote in favour of this motion that is in front of you. There is a real concern that if we delay it any further there would not be any more consensus in two weeks from now than there is now. My suggestion is that we do not defer this motion. We do have from now until 5:30. Let's attempt to see whether we can in fact deal with this motion today.
If we are not able to do so, then perhaps we may have to come back on Tuesday, not next week, but the week after. By that time, if the motion is adopted that Tuesday and is reported to the House on the Thursday, it is mightily close to November 24, and it would be terrible if we could not get some kind of statement through the House by November 24.