Thank you, Mr. Chair.
If we want to talk at length about what is happening today procedurally, we can also wonder about the fact that had to make the committee wait to check the outcome of a vote.
Of course I will support the amendment that I was ultimately not able to put forward myself, and I thank my colleague for proposing it for me.
I don't agree with the reason given for opposing the proposal. Some people think it will be terrible if we don't spend an hour on Monday, January 31, at the committee's first regular meeting, studying the motions put forward by each party. Personally, I am much more concerned and troubled by the fact that people are without income because they have been waiting for their EI benefits for about 15 weeks or even for seven months.
As I said in my presentation, the world will continue to turn even if the committee doesn't take an hour from its January 31 meeting to discuss members' motions. If the committee feels that it is more urgent to discuss these motions than to deal with known problematic situations, then we will simply have to add an hour to the committee meeting or meet as a subcommittee to do an initial sorting of the motions, as we have already done. There are different ways of managing our schedule.
In short, speaking to our motions shouldn't be more important or more urgent than hearing from a minister and her officials on an issue where Canadians are waiting and appealing to us.