I just want to understand. One thing worries me. We are studying a bill, witnesses have talked to us, and, all of a sudden, during clause-by-clause study, we want to make a friendly amendment. If we were to pass your amendment, it seems to me that it would no longer be possible to do that. I can see why the government would want to avoid that. Nor do I want to be in a position of making substantive decisions without having consulted the office of my whip, my leader or my chief. I think that everyone feels the same. I do not want to find myself tied to a mechanism that is so rigid that we cannot look closely into things when we are studying a bill or an amendment and considering a matter that we have already been able to think about.
Would that be the effect of your amendment; is it, in a sense, an elegant way of cutting off debate? If we wanted to introduce a quick amendment on Bill C-2 because of the direction that our work had been taking, could we do so? As I understand it, we could not, and, Mr. Chair, I do not think that that makes very much sense.