Mr. Chair, because a bill is confusing doesn't mean it needs to be extended.
I do have a deep interest in this bill. I don't think it is all that complicated, but I think it's very misdirected. There has been a fair amount of time already given to the bill.
I don't have a vote on this so, of course, the other members here will decide that, but clearly Canadians have been heard. I'm not sure it needs to go much further here, because they've told us they're concerned about the bill, concerned about the issues of the gender identity and gender expression that are in the bill.
The NDP seems to be unwilling to.... I tried to address one issue. I'm not sure if Mr. Garrison is withdrawing his cooperation or not, but the reality is that neither of those terms, whether they're in or out of the bill, has been defined, and they haven't been defined in a way that would give any reason for those of us who are parliamentarians to support the bill or to continue to support the bill.
I'm concerned that it's come to committee here and doesn't seem to have changed direction at all. It doesn't seem to have clarified the definitions to a point at which Canadians are going to be comfortable with them, so I'm not sure what's going to be gained by taking more time on this.
It's true that this is a bill that's troubling. It's troubling for a whole number of reasons. It's extending another level of protection to a category of individuals who haven't been covered in the past, and it certainly has far-reaching implications for them and for Canadian society. I think it's because the definitions are so poorly written and explained that we need to get the bill back to the House and try to have it defeated as quickly as possible.
These terms, “gender identity” and “gender expression”, are words we've been told today are not words that are in common usage. They're not being used regularly. It seems to me that if this bill is passed into law—and I think actually this is simply a delay tactic by the opposition to try to drag this out a little bit longer—the definitions of these words, as I pointed out earlier, are going to be left to the human rights tribunals and the courts to decide. I simply think that's inappropriate. The committee is too far along now to be able to do anything about that.
They have the amendments. I don't think any of them are adequate in terms of explaining those terms, so typically it should go back to the House. It's time to go back to the House, and I certainly would support that.
The other problem with the definitions is that they're inconclusive. When we talk about the subjectivity of them, they're basically going to make sure that gender norms are confusing for the general public. No one is going to be able to really understand what they are, and so—