I agree with many of the things that were said. There is a positive as well as a negative side to this. Quite simply, I felt that I had been insulted when the bill was introduced. I only felt this way once before, and that was when I was practising law. A judge had listened to our arguments regarding sentencing and when we had finished, he proceeded to read out a sentence that had been written in advance. Fortunately, we had recourse to a court of appeal.
I have enough years of experience in politics to know that one must put up with insults. We have seen a great deal worse than this. The fact remains that I felt that I had been insulted. I would have used even harsher words. In any case, I agree with the words used to describe the minister's actions. The minister introduced his bill in the hopes of reaping some immediate political benefit. It is this type of behaviour that discredits the work of members of Parliament in the eyes of the public. Mr. Davies rightfully asked how the witnesses felt. In this instance, the witnesses are not the only ones affected.
If legislation specifically provides for a review in two years' time by a committee, then we should know the electorate expects us to get down to business, gather information, give our opinion and have our views heard. This attitude shows that all of the work of parliamentarians, all of the precautions taken, serve no other purpose than to save face. This attitude leaves us with the impression that all of this is not important, that while a government is elected to govern, if it seeks advice from committees, it will merely disregard that advice because it will have already made up its mind. To my way of thinking, there are many other things that conspire to discredit our work. I do not think that this is true of this committee. Quite the contrary, in fact. I think we take our job very seriously. If our proceedings were made public, I would not be ashamed in the least.
As I have already said, this type of attitude can only serve to discredit the way in which the government operates and to weaken the voters' confidence in our system. That is the most serious repercussion. I can put up with insults, however. One of the challenges of politics is to acquire a tough shell capable of deflecting unwarranted insults, while at the same time remaining truly in tune with the opinions and wishes of the public. This is a challenge that we must contend with daily.