That's definitely one thing that's a little different this morning.
Before I start, I would like to apologize to our witnesses. We are going to do something a little different this morning than move through clause-by-clause, and I'll explain why. Given the recent events in the news, such as the VIA Rail terrorist plot yesterday, and none of us has to go too deep into our minds to think about what happened in Boston over the last number of days, we can't deny the reality that we are living in a world that has terrorism in it. It's a real threat, and we've offered our positions on these issues. We've offered words of comfort.
We have spoken about this bill over the last number of days and weeks. There's no question in my mind that the direction we need to take is stronger and more confident than just what is set aside in a private member's bill that was moved by Mr. Shory. We must act. There should not be any ambiguity in the words that we use; we should be direct. They should be firm, and our legislation should coincide with that. I believe it's imperative to ensure that every single amendment the government has moved plays a role in this piece of legislation, which I think is timely, which I think is correct. It needs to ensure that every single one of our amendments is included in it.
I cannot stress strongly enough that no words or actions can be ill-defined, and the bill cannot be either. As such, Mr. Chair, I would like to move the following motion: that the committee recommend to the House that it be granted the power during its consideration of Bill C-425, an act to amend the Citizenship Act, honouring the Canadian Armed Forces, to expand the scope of the bill such that the provisions of the bill be not limited to the Canadian Armed Forces.
It's been clear over the last number of days...and I appreciate the efforts by our legislative clerk to do his best to inform us as correctly as possible how the bill should be read and how our amendments should be interpreted accordingly.
So I move the motion here this morning. I know it is not normal procedure to do this prior to moving on clause-by-clause, but make no mistake, Chair, we're going to act not only in response to what we see in the world today, but we're going to ensure that a piece of legislation that moves forward has proper scope, has proper language, and is interpreted according to the witnesses we have heard over the last number of weeks, the advice we have received, and the direction we should move in.
I so move that we bring this back to the House and be given the opportunity to expand on the scope of the bill.