I would first like to tell Mr. Alexandre that this is not about a personal stand. I think Mr. Alexander has shown us in question period in the House that he is quite competent in this area. I was very impressed with the quality of his answers. There is nothing personal about this; it is a matter of principle.
I understand the argument made by Mr. Alexander, who says that Parliament has changed, that the make up of Parliament has changed. But, at the same time, we have to remember that the Canadian population has also changed. There are more and more immigrants. Many immigrants are from countries that are republics, not parliamentary monarchies. Personally, I come from France and more and more immigrants are from republican systems.
There is a very clear distinction between the legislative and executive branches. It is true that, in the British parliamentarian system, there is an osmosis between the two. But I feel that the fact that a parliamentary secretary cannot be a part of a subcommittee speaks to that.
Changing an existing rule to move towards a system that confuses executive power with legislative power even further would go against what more and more new Canadians think, since they are used to having a clear distinction between legislative and executive powers; they are used to true independence.