Thank you, Chair.
I'm speaking precisely to the way the parliamentary calendar unfolds and to how that really should shed some light on point nine in the original motion by Ms. Khalid, which my colleague Mr. Nater is proposing to remove via his amendment.
We have this situation—and this is relatively novel in the history of our Parliament—where at times, not that long ago.... I've been here for only about nine years. When I was first elected, you would have the requirement to be in person for committees and in the House. You would have a lot of work happening around the clock in this place, work that required you to be here in person. Now, with the hybrid Parliament provisions, it is much more flexible.
I think the reality is that the Liberals have prioritized trying to make things easier for members of Parliament. I wish they'd put more of an emphasis on making life easier for Canadians, instead of being so focused on trying to make life easy for themselves.
We have this motion again before this committee that, on top of everything that is already in place, tries to make life even easier for them by saying that the committee would not be able to meet at all to do its work outside of Standing Order 106(4), which I'll comment on, although, the language here is.... I don't think that what the motion says, with respect to 106(4), actually matches Ms. Khalid's explanation of it. I'll talk about the issues around Standing Order 106(4) in a few moments.
I'll read the provisions of point nine in this motion: “Notwithstanding a meeting called pursuant to Standing Order 106(4), no meetings of the committee or subcommittee be held during Parliament's adjournment from December 18, 2024 to January 26, 2025.”
This is during a six-week break in the parliamentary calendar where, yes, members will be engaging in their constituencies, but it's also a time when other kinds of parliamentary work can happen, including committee meetings. If a meeting is called for sometime in January, then yes, members will have to plan their schedules accordingly, in the same way they would during a sitting week. However, they have a much easier time doing that now because we are all given the equipment. We can access it from our offices and even from our homes. We can sign into a committee and can participate in the work of that committee, and the—