Excuse me, Ms. Glover. Actually the term “unanimous” means that everyone around the table agrees. When you were here we did not have unanimous consent until you removed your objections; then we did have it. I am afraid I was right when I related the incident.
We did have a ruling from the clerk at that particular time on this issue, and the clerk told us that was what must occur. You therefore removed your objection, so we then had unanimous consent, Ms. Glover. I would ask you to withdraw that you think I misrepresented the case, because I did not.
We now have the clerk giving me the opinion here. I will read this first:
Members of the House attending committee meetings who are not committee members or substitutes may, at the discretion of the committee, participate in the deliberations.
I have asked the committee for its discretion. Ms. Mathyssen believes it is not appropriate, so the committee has spoken.
Now, shall we move forward?
Mr. Lemieux is now substituting for Ms. Gordon. Therefore, we now have Ms. Davidson, Ms. McLeod, Ms. Hoeppner, Ms. Glover, and Mr. Lemieux who are the members who are allowed to participate in this discussion. Ms. Gordon will not be participating in the discussion for this particular motion, or for the whole committee meeting, depending upon how this works. Unless we have another substitution, Mr. Lemieux is here for the whole committee meeting.
Ms. Glover, I would like to comment. You began your comment to the chair by suggesting that you were the first person to suggest what the chair “so eloquently” summed up. Ms. Glover, I would like to suggest that if you wish for me not to say that it was Ms. Gordon's comment and that I can add your name to it.... We have behaved in this committee in a manner that is respectful and collegial. If you wish to have credit....
I was merely summing up what I heard. And if I forgot, I will now say it for the record. I apologize, Ms. Glover; you were the first person to say it, so you shall receive credit. In my summation I did not give credit to Ms. Glover; I gave credit to her colleague, Ms. O'Neill-Gordon. I would like to make sure that both people get credit for making that statement.
But I would like to point out that if this is the way we're going to conduct meetings, we will get nowhere, because it is not in the spirit of getting along. It is not in the collegial spirit in which this committee is used to dealing with each other.
I'm sorry, we are either going to get on with committee business or we can continue to nitpick over whether one person's name was not given credit for something. I summed it up, which is what I'm supposed to do.
Now, Mr. Lemieux, I should like to tell you where we are before you speak. We are at the point of deciding whether or not we bring this back when we get further information, or whether it is even appropriate for this committee to be dealing with this issue under section 2 of the charter. The mover has the option to decide how she wishes to proceed. If she wishes to proceed with the motion, you will absolutely be the next person to speak for or against the motion.
Madame Demers.