Thank you, Chair.
This is my first chance to speak in the context of this bill. I'm grateful for that opportunity, and I will be speaking, of course, to the amendment. However, I do also want to move a subamendment that I believe the clerk has. I submitted it in writing, so I'll go ahead and state that subamendment. The requirements have been met. I gather that it will be distributed when it's translated.
The amendment is to add, after the words “sustainable jobs”, “that provide powerful paycheques to Canadian workers”. I think this is an important addition to the excellent amendment from my colleague Mr. Patzer. It really underlines what the bill should be about. We are in the purpose section of the bill. We're describing what should be the purpose of the bill.
Sadly, I don't think it is the purpose of the bill as written. That is, I don't think it is the purpose that the minister had in mind when proposing this bill. I don't think it's the purpose that the government had in their thinking when they put this bill forward. The government's approach to our economy is, sadly, not about creating more private sector investment or creating sustainable jobs that provide powerful paycheques to Canadian workers. That is not the approach of this government, but it should be.
We are in the process of looking at amendments for this bill and putting forward this amendment to the purpose. Of course, we will have other subsequent amendments that give greater voice and life to that amendment and that will shift the purpose of this legislation to where we should be. In my remarks on this amendment, I want to talk about where we are right now with this government and with the current purpose of the bill, and then I want to talk about where we should be.
Here is where we are. We have a piece of legislation that this government is increasingly embarrassed about. We know they're embarrassed about it, because they have put forward an unprecedented, draconian programming motion in the House that does not even allow this committee to hear from any witnesses. No workers, no companies, no affected families, no first nations—nobody—will be able to address the committee on this bill because of a motion adopted in the House that narrowly prescribes.... That includes no ministers, by the way. We won't hear from ministers. We have a draconian—