Thanks very much.
I must say, I'm impressed by the ability of Mr. Harris to argue that a measure to exclude someone from a subcommittee would result in greater collegiality. I just have a difficult time seeing the logic of that argument.
The role of a parliamentary secretary is not to be part of the executive. Quite the contrary: parliamentary secretaries are not part of the ministry. Yes, they serve the government in Parliament, but they are servants of Parliament. It is in their title, “parliamentary secretary”.
Indeed, Mr. McKay and Mr. Harris I think would do better, as experienced members of Parliament, to remember that we have a parliamentary system of government. Our government is embedded in our Parliament. The independence and credibility of committees will be served not only by their minimizing their contact with the government, by their lack of exposure to the government's agenda, by their working on an independent set of issues from the government...which seems to be the initial line, at least, that these two are taking. It will be served also, and I think principally, by our ability to generate results, to achieve results in the field of national defence that matter for the people of Canada, that are relevant for this population, for this society, for our interests in defence nationally, in North America, and around the world.
With all due respect to their comments and their experience, I would submit that they are underestimating the ability of a parliamentary secretary--others of my colleagues in other portfolios may well be playing this role in subcommittees, but certainly it includes this parliamentary secretary--to contribute to the independent role of a committee.
As for representativeness and the equality of parties, I think it is quite generous of both the government and the official opposition to see without hesitation a member of the Liberal Party as vice-chair of this committee: 20% of the weight in that committee vice-chair role, for a party that has roughly 11% or 12% of the seats in the House of Commons.
So let's not cut off our noses to spite our faces. This is a new Parliament. We will be judged, I think all of us, as individual parliamentarians, as individual MPs, but also collectively as a team trying to achieve results, first and foremost by our ability to be relevant and to be productive. Honestly, I think the format put forward here today is going to help us on both fronts.