All right, I'll request it next week.
When I taught, I used to outline the course plan at the start so that students would have an idea of what the course would look like. I wanted them to be eager for me to get to point 3, if that was the one that interested them the most. Unfortunately, this morning, we will have to go at it point by point. You will see as we go along what ideas and concerns I want to put on this table.
You are not required to note down everything I say on your computers because it will be recorded by the House Reporting Service and distributed to you. You can just cheerfully follow along.
Unfortunately, the fundamental difference between my course and the committee is that, as a result of procedural rules, it is impossible to entertain your questions. I admit that is somewhat unfortunate because, in the next few minutes, I will have to try as hard as I can to anticipate your questions, to imagine them, to state them for you and then to answer them. Perhaps we could use tricks like the one Mr. Gourde seems to want to present to us. I'm open to everything.
As I said at the last meeting, there are two hypotheses regarding the dispute between us. I remind you that we are discussing a motion, and I say that for those who may have just joined us, since we are sitting in public. Our discussion is about a motion that was introduced by Mr. Menegakis and that reads as follows: "That all Committee business of the Committee be conducted in camera."
I read it well, didn't I? That is really important. I would emphasize one thing that I underscore in all my press releases. I repeat that the word that divides us in this motion, if there is one, is the word "all". The word "all" allows for no exceptions. The words "all" and "none" are the two extreme ends of the spectrum. We can do absolutely nothing about that.
The French language is so precise that it allows for no interpretation. In fact, there may be one exception. In this case, I appreciate the English language, in which a distinction is drawn between the words "like" and "love". There is no such distinction in French, as a result of which I can and must use exactly the same verb to say "I love my wife" and that "I love ice cream." It's the same thing. I believe there really is a flagrant lack of precision in French in this regard.
However, as regards vocabulary as a whole, it can practically be said that no language in the world is as precise as the French language. That moreover is why many international treaties have been drafted in French. When it comes to interpreting what has been written—we all know that you have to interpret both the spirit and the letter of a treaty, convention or any signed contract—the French language is clearly the most precise.
The expression "all Committee business of the Committee" is what divides us. Mr. Harris, in an obvious attempt to bring the two sides closer, moved an amendment that started with the words "That the motion be amended by adding after the words 'in camera' the following: 'with the consent of at least one member of the opposition'..." Personally, I would have stopped there. It seems to me that would have been a sign of genuine collaboration and of our ability to get along with each other and to debate the issues dividing us. However, Mr. Harris is, by nature, probably far more generous than I am.