Thank you, Madam Chair.
Ms. Levman and Ms. Wiltsie‑Brown, thank you for being with us today.
Madam Chair, before I ask my questions, I'd like to make a general comment.
Amendment G-2 makes sense to me at first blush, but I confess I've only had time for a cursory reading. We received the amendment on Friday afternoon. I understand that it respects the deadline we set ourselves, but I had to participate in several activities in my riding, so I didn't have time to get a team together and study all of this. I'm certainly not the only MP in this situation.
It must be said that amendment G-2 proposes a rewrite of the bill. I'm not saying it's a bad rewrite. The problem I see with it, however, is that the testimony we heard was on the old text; the bill was then rewritten on Friday afternoon, and on Monday morning we have to decide whether or not to pass it. This seems to me to be a rather rapid process. I think we would have benefited from working earlier on the new text. At the very least, we could have held a meeting to work with witnesses on the new text.
That was my introductory comment.
Personally, I'd like all parliamentarians to have the time they need to do the work. When an amendment aims to change a sentence or a paragraph, that's fine, that's the usual process. However, to rewrite a bill on a Friday afternoon and have to vote on it on Monday morning seems to me almost disrespectful of the committee's work. I say this with all due respect for my colleagues on the government side. I imagine they're acting in good faith and want to do what's best. That said, I think we're moving a little fast on this one.
For our part, we had prepared some…
Is everything all right, Madam Speaker? May I continue?