Very well, Mr. Chair.
I was just leading up to explaining why this is a very important bill. We need to have those opportunities to bring it to the floor of the House so that all members of the House can examine the bill in its intimate detail and its component parts for the benefit of all Canadians, in particular, those witnesses who we had before us, like Bal Gupta, who is the chair of the Air India 182 Victims Families Association, and Maureen Basnicki, widow, and co-founder of the Canadian Coalition Against Terror. She, Mr. Gupta, and many others are victims, and they have a right to be heard. They have a right to have their testimony and points of view put before the House of Commons, as do all MPs on all sides of the House. It's the right of my honourable friend to have his private member's bill examined by all of his peers and voted on properly, and not held up by using various devices in order to keep it away from the light of day and from the light of the actual legislature, where all members of Parliament can fairly examine it, and then with their conscience, stand up and vote for or against it, Mr. Chair.
I believe that by doing so, my honourable friend's rights are curtailed in his ability to present a private member's bill that has the support of well over 83% of Canadians across the country. As well, there are those victims, Mr. Chair, who came before us to share their views on why the bill is important to them. It's why the bill is important to 83% of Canadians who collectively agree that this bill should be brought to the floor of the House of Commons, and in their view be passed by the House of Commons and brought into law. This would further protect them, Canadian families, and at the end of the day, help to stop the spread of victimization by people who would assault our way of life and our Canadian Forces, especially those who put their lives at risk every day not only in this country but in places abroad, Mr. Chair.
It's for those reasons, Mr. Chair, that I urge this committee to allow this extension, to allow this to pass, and allow this private member's bill to be brought to the floor of the House, and to allow all honourable members, who act on behalf of their constituents....
They are the same type of constituents I am now answering to. Where I once commanded troops, Mr. Chair, I now have over 113,000 constituents I answer to. I answer to them every day. They would want to see this private member's bill make it to the floor of the House of Commons to be debated there and voted on, Mr. Chair.
Thank you very much.