Chair, I'm wondering about that last point. The parliamentary secretary gets an extra $15,000 or more a year. He knows full well that part of his job is to relay to the minister and the ministry what's happening on this committee. If he hasn't done that, then he should say so now. That motion was put forth two days ago and was sent to your office, to your address. I don't have to look at your BlackBerry to know that, Mr. Lake. If you didn't do your job, that's not Mr. Rota's fault: that's your fault.
I want to talk about the other concern that I have. Let this be a lesson to our friends in the Conservative Party. If you're going to mess around with legislation, something that has stood the test of time, a census that has worked very well for Canadians without giving much reason for changing it, these are the consequences of what happens when you decide at the last second that you're going to change and throw in reverse years of history that have worked very well for the country.
You should not be surprised, Mr. Lake, nor should any of the members on that side, that we're at a point where we've tried to fix this. Parliament has passed, in principle, the notion of fixing the damage you have done.
If Mr. Lake wants to come here as a member of Parliament in good standing suggesting that somehow executive power is more important than parliamentary power, then I suggest he go back and read a bit of history from the 1600s and find out how the king lost his head for doing the same thing.
I would also suggest, though, in the interest of time, that if Mr. Lake has taken the time to look at Mr. Rota's motion and has a concern, he ought to have raised it with the opposition, which, the last time I checked from the last election, constitutes fully 64% of the will of the Canadian people.