I trust that Mr. Housefather did not mean the word “gentlemen” when he was referring to these people. That's not a slight at Mr. Housefather. These are despicable dirtbags we're talking about in this ruling. I think we need to understand that when we're talking about what's at stake in this.
The reason our motion and, in this case, our subamendment to the amendment to the motion calls for reporting to the House is that it means something very specific. We believe that this is something that needs to be sent to the House. We do not need a committee motion for us to send strongly worded letters to the Minister of Justice or to anyone. We can notify Minister Fraser and tell him all we want, but we want there to be an official process here by which this House has to acknowledge what we have agreed on as a committee after this vote.
Reporting to the House is not just putting a sticky note in front of the Speaker. It is a very real process by which this issue can be given the consideration it deserves. No, it would not be satisfactory for us to just agree on a strongly worded letter to the Minister of Justice and then wipe our hands of this and say that we've done our job as a committee. If the government has not yet presented legislation, not yet told us what is going to be in legislation, and has indicated through the debate we've had on this committee that there won't be use of the notwithstanding clause, and there likely will not be a mandatory minimum, then that is precisely why this motion that we have put forward is the only way to get this issue before the House in the manner it needs to be entertained.