Thank you, Madam Chair.
I say this with the greatest of respect to my colleague, and I perfectly agree with her, by the way, that I think it's important for all members to be informed about matters that are before the House. The thing I really question in this particular motion, the way it is worded, is that what it's doing is compelling or requesting that members of Parliament advocate amongst their caucus members to take a certain action on a bill.
I question, Madam Chair, that this sort of motion is really in order, first because it's not asking that the committee or the House do a certain thing, but rather that individual members of Parliament take up certain advocacy initiatives. I would say, in the reading I've done in regard to these matters, that any actions that take up a form of interference or obstruction, or even to go to the nth degree, intimidation, around provoking members to do a certain thing, is getting very close to being an affront to the House, because members' privilege is privilege to be able to make those kinds of considerations on their own. That's particularly true with private members' business.
So while I fully appreciate the member's comments on this issue, when one looks at the actual wording of the motion to denounce a bill, these are actions that really this committee, even if it were to pass this motion, has no course or power to incite; and in fact, if it did so, it would be almost in contempt of the House, because members have to be free to make those decisions of their own accord.