Mr. Chairperson, I'm inclined to be sympathetic to what it is you're saying. Normally I might not say this, but the concern I have is that we had an agreement that this bill, Bill C-31, would pass today. That's the mindset I had come into committee with.
Having said that, I share many of the concerns the NDP have with regard to the budget debate. I suspect that this is where this is coming from.
I could also say that had I known we were able to make these types of motions today, there are many other issues.... For example, I'd love to cease and desist the current study the immigration committee is doing on biometrics and then explain why. We should be having that discussion about what we replace it with. This is a legitimate concern. There are legitimate concerns with regard to the crisis situation in the provincial nominee program. We have serious issues related to visitor visas not being approved.
It's a fairly lengthy agenda we could have. I would love the opportunity to welcome into the debate all those issues.
My concern is that if the member starts to itemize the reasons we should be making this a priority, I would feel somewhat obligated to itemize what I believe, on behalf of our party, are priorities for this committee to be looking at.
What we might want to do is deal with Bill C-31. If there is some time at the end of that discussion, and the committee is open to it, I too would like to introduce some motions for us to look at as a committee.