The previous question on the amendment.
I am opposed to this. I believe there are members of this committee who still had things to say and have not said them. When we look at the rules that exist, there is no limit of time or of the number of times members can speak to an issue, especially when we're looking at motions such as this in committee.
We are not talking about a minor issue here. We're talking about something pretty substantial that is very important both to the opposition, and obviously, to government as well. Therefore I am opposed to the question being put at this time. As I said, we do not want to get into violating the privileges of parliamentarians, who are duly elected and then selected to come and sit on these committees so they can participate in debate to the fullest extent, whether it's on the main motion, the amendment, or the subamendment.
Also, when you're looking at it substantially, the amendment we're putting the question on is a pretty substantive amendment. What it does is it reaffirms a rule that already exists for private members' business, and that is the legislation we're looking at here. That's the only thing we're looking at here, and the seeking of an extension for that. When I take a look at that, I believe the amendment was accepted when it was moved. There was no challenge from the chair for accepting it, and the chair accepted it after full consultation and everything.
There was a previous amendment before this that was not acceptable according to the rules, and the chair ruled it out of order. This amendment was acceptable, so what we're dealing with here is a duly moved and accepted amendment. What I'm saying is that there are still points to be made.
I know we did debate the subamendment, but on the amendment itself, I have not had an opportunity to speak to it. Because we are talking about voting on the amendment that I've not had an opportunity to speak to yet, I would like to—