Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I apologize to the witnesses, but I would like to move a motion regarding Bill C‑12. My assistant has the French and English versions and can submit them to the clerk. The motion is as follows:
That, in order to allow the members of the Committee to take into account the appearance of 24 witnesses before the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration as part of the study of Bill C‑12, the Committee postpone the deadline for submitting amendments in preparation for the clause-by-clause study of Bill C‑12. That, for this purpose, the deadline for submitting amendments be set for Friday, November 21, 2025, at 11:59 p.m.
I find I have no choice but to move this motion to ensure a high degree of professionalism. Likely on Friday morning, the committee members will receive a list of recommendations based on the testimony and briefs received, of which there are probably dozens, about the part of Bill C‑12 that deals with immigration and refugees. I can't even imagine us, the members of the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security, not having time to familiarize ourselves with this document and analyze it on our own to determine whether or not we're going to propose amendments, given that the deadline for submitting amendments was set for Friday at noon. I'd be quite embarrassed should the witnesses who appeared before the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration have to learn that all their work had not been given proper consideration to enable us to assess whether or not we're going to propose amendments.
That's why I'm proposing this to the committee, and I imagine there won't be much opposition to the idea. Instead of having until noon to submit our amendments, I propose that we give ourselves until the end of the same day to do so. That would give us time to familiarize ourselves with the material and everything the witnesses have done.
Honestly, I can't understand why we didn't make room in our committee's schedule to listen to and discuss what occurred at the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration. We're talking about 24 witnesses. I don't know how this happened. I know that the scheduling of our work on Bill C‑12 was adopted in large part because of an alliance between the Liberals and the Conservatives, because I, for one, was not in favour of it.
I can't help but talk to you about it today, because I've always been thorough in the past. I can't accept that the deadline set for submitting amendments doesn't give me the time I need to read the document produced by the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration, assess its relevance and read a few briefs, so that I can do my job properly in preparing for clause‑by‑clause consideration of the bill.
I don't expect there's going to be a lot of debate on my motion. I think what I'm saying makes sense. It makes no sense to have to submit amendments no later than two hours after receiving the document produced by the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration.
If we stuck to the current plan, I wouldn't be shy to explain the situation to all the groups who shared their recommendations or took the trouble to draft a brief. It would be as if we were sending them a message that our committee did not want to take their work into account.
Mr. Chair, I would encourage you to call the vote on my motion. Once that's dealt with, we can continue the meeting. I'll let you do your job.