Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I was not directing those words to anyone in particular. It was just a feeling that I had. If anyone around the table, whatever their party, was offended by those words, I would gladly take them back, but that does not change what I think.
So let me go back to the newspapers I looked at. I found an article that I would like to share with you. It is very short. And it was published in Le Devoir on December 14, 2011. That is still quite a long time ago. The title is “Government wants committees in camera, complains opposition”. The article reads as follows:
First gagged, then blindfolded: the opposition is criticizing the government's attempt to force parliamentary committees to go in camera, far from the eyes of Canadians and reporters. The New Democratic Party (NDP) and the Liberal Party have criticized in unison the total lack of transparency on the Harper government's part, a government that is abusing its majority and that wants to control everything in Parliament with an iron fist. Although the rule has been to hold most of the parliamentary committee proceedings in public, the Conservatives are trying to make that the exception, adds the opposition. On Tuesday, a Conservative MP on the government operations committee moved that all future business be conducted in camera.
As an aside...