We are, in essence, asking the minister to do exactly what he has done. He has given us policy direction and statutory and regulatory reforms, and he's modernizing the telecommunications service. He's doing exactly what we've asked him to do.
The order of business--and that's the reason I asked on my point of order whether or not this motion was in order--was to prepare for the minister some direction based on what we've discovered from our witnesses. We've listened to--I don't have the exact number--witnesses for a number of months now. I understand that Mr. Crête has forwarded some objectives and some concerns. We have also looked at these. We've listened to the witnesses and come to some conclusion as well.
I feel this is redundant, that this is a waste of committee time. The minister needs to have some direction. We know what his timeline is. It is April 15. He's going to rule on this thing. We're going to stand in a couple more days.
We need to give the minister something more substantive. We need to give to the minister the direction that we see as a committee and the conclusion that we've come to as a committee from what we've heard from our witnesses.
I stated at the outset too that my first impression, when this was first brought to our attention, was that this would be the next part of our study. I had some serious reservations. I had some serious problems with questions that I didn't have answered, and yet in my mind, having listened to those witnesses and most of those concerns, with the exception--I'll state this publicly--of the smaller businesses, the ones that need some protection, I personally feel that the minister is going in the right direction. Not only do I feel that, but I think that opinion can be found among the witnesses we interviewed and in the statements they made.
Mr. Chair, I feel that this motion is out of order. Unless we accept the argument that the language is inadequate or that it hasn't been properly drafted, and I'd have to trust my francophone friends when they say that--if that's been overruled, and if my point of order that the motion is out of order.... The order of the day says committee business; it doesn't even say that we're going to rule on whether or not we're going to come up with a committee report.
My argument is that if we're going to insist on this we are wasting our time, and we'd be far better served if we came to the minister with a concrete proposal, something we could all agree on. I really believe that even if we don't have a majority report--we can offer a majority or minority report--it won't be that far removed from how committee members opposite feel we should move and from the way we should instruct the minister to move.
Mr. Chair, that's what I think, and I'd like to discuss this further. I would like to hear some other committee members' opinions on this, but you have to convince me that this is the right direction to go. Quite frankly, I don't believe this is where we need to go with this.