We can continue. We can continue the debate on this. I think I've been pretty clear right from the start. This is what happens when you take multiple pieces of complex and comprehensive legislation that have come into being through years of international negotiations and try to change them with a private member's bill. We see this time and time again in this place in terms of discussions.
I love having you at the table. You're enthusiastic, I think, in terms of wanting to solve the actual issues of the people of Africa and the challenges there; we're on the same page. But I think in terms of this piece of legislation, we're seeing here in this committee meeting what the challenges have been all along.
If we continue on the route that we're going and if we were to.... I mean, my fear as we go through this process now.... We're down to a deadline whether we spend an hour or 10 hours talking this out in committee in the way that we're doing right now...we're actually going to make a bill that had significant potential negative ramifications...we're actually going to make it worse, I think, in terms of some of the conversations that we're having, because we're trying to, under the pressure of a timeline, make changes that don't make any sense.
I really think we need to consider the actions that we're taking here in terms of amending the bill and in terms of the discussion. At the end of the day, what I want, and what I got involved in politics for, is to actually make a positive difference, not just to pass legislation that might make me feel good but is going to have significant negative ramifications down the line. I've said that right from the start.
We have several grandmothers in the room here who have put their heart and soul into the issue and I love that. I respect that. I think it's critically important. But I've said right from the start that this is not the way to make a change. In fact, in the end, we're going to have negative consequences through the process that we're going through on this particular bill.
This is tough. It's a tough process. I don't know where we're going here today with this. We're still on clause 2. It seems like the direction we're going in is actually heading to more confusion, and we need to move on.
If Mr. Masse, who is right now the person who is kind of.... At least if he is not officially holding the bill, he is unofficially holding the bill, and if he wants to remove clause 2 from the bill in the interests of moving on in the meeting, I think we need to consider that.