Mr. Chairman, I would like to comment on what Mr. Lemieux just said. He said that you acted properly as chairman when you cancelled the meetings. I think that he said that. Perhaps he could clarify it further for me. He seems to be saying that a chairman can decide that an agenda is not valid even though a majority of committee members have agreed to it. No chairman has ever been given this power in any committee in which I have participated.
He referred to me as my party's whip. Let me tell you that I am very proud of the fact that the New Democratic Party is the only political party that elects its whip every year in January. I have been elected as the whip since the year 2000. This shows that caucus members respected my decisions, because they had seven opportunities to get rid of me. They could have done it seven times, Mr. Lemieux. If they say that they no longer want me, I am sure that it will not spell the end of the NDP caucus. However, your party wants to dissolve this committee. Now the decision is yours.
According to the Standing Orders, if the motion for Mr. Lauzon's resignation is adopted, it is incumbent on the government to appoint someone else to the committee. After that, you can appoint the chair of your choice. If you choose to do that, then you will be attacking the francophone minorities, as you have done during the past months. Now the decision is up to you. You will show us whether the Conservative Government of Canada intends to respect both official languages of the two peoples that came from Europe to settle in Canada in the 1600s. We have had a Constitution with two official languages since the 1800s.
It is up to you to decide and to your government to show Canadians if it respects these principles. You cannot hide behind statements like those made by Mr. Jay Hill, who claimed that this committee is not important. You cannot hide behind that and pretend that Canadians are not frustrated. You cannot hide behind that. You yourself said that this is an important committee and that we had produced a good report. You personally said that we had travelled all over Canada, from coast to coast to coast.
Now you will decide whether or not to show respect, but you will not decide whether or not the committee should continue to exist. The committee will continue existing today, and the day after that. There is no way that the Conservatives can abolish Canada's parliamentary official languages committee and deprive us of our democratic right to freedom of speech. I am sorry.
While Canada's Prime Minister may decide which of his party members can speak to the media, he cannot decide this for members of the opposition. This is not what democracy is about. My dear friends, I leave this matter in your hands.