Mr. Chair, thank you for recognizing me.
I'll hearken back to some earlier comments I made and comments I've made in relation to other bills.
The whole purpose of parliamentary standing committees is to examine either policy or legislation from government, to hear from witnesses, to cross-examine those witnesses and then, ultimately, to get to clause-by-clause consideration, where reasonable, intelligent amendments are put forth by all parties represented here at committee. The whole purpose behind that, obviously, is....
Bill C-16 is a classic example of the importance of committees studying legislation and leaving aside all the talking points, the positioning and the jockeying of positions during second reading and, potentially, third reading. You get into real and substantive work at committee.
I'm sure all of us at this table have been to numerous riding events. We usually have to correct this every single time it comes up: “What is it you actually do as a member of Parliament? All I see are people on television slapping their hands on their desks and screaming at each other. You look like a bunch of grade school children.” For a lot of Canadians, that's their view of parliamentarians. It's what they see on television every day from two o'clock to roughly 3:15.
I take every opportunity to correct that falsehood. I say that it's called question period. The opposition will ask pointed, direct questions of the Prime Minister, his ministers, his parliamentary secretaries and his backbench. Absolutely not once do you get a responsive answer to a question. Instead, it becomes a theatrical performance by the government, trumpeting its old, tired talking points about being a new government, notwithstanding that it has this manufactured majority because of floor crossers, one of which is currently in our justice committee as I speak.