I think all members of this committee are interested in the common good of all Canadians--those who serve and profit by being here.
I note that Mr. Fast has a motion that says: “That the Committee recommend that the Government amend the Canada Post Corporation Act to clarify the English and French versions of section 14 so as to remove Canada Post' s exclusive privilege to deliver letter mail to destinations outside Canada”. He's a member of the government, he doesn't need any advice from the committee about which way to go, and the minister can proceed if that's his intention.
In the interest of abiding by the general principle that I mentioned a moment ago, we all have the interest of the common good at heart. I presented an amendment to his motion to be a bit more prescriptive about what the minister ought to do. What the minister ought to do is comply with his authority under the act. In order to provide some prescriptive advice to Canada Post, his authority under the act requires him to act in a particular fashion. That fashion is outlined in this amendment to Mr. Fast's motion.
That's why I thought he might simply say this is a friendly amendment. It gives us an opportunity to address the substance of his own motion, and if the minister is prepared to accept the advice of this committee in a broad statement, such as the one he presented, I'm sure the minister will be equally disposed to accept something more specific, and that essentially reflects the experience of people who have been in government and are trying to understand the predicament that the minister might find himself in, without being partisan about what the minister promised to do in the House and did not deliver, or did not promise and did not deliver.
This is an amendment to the motion that causes me some surprise concerning why Mr. Fast would want to defer until Wednesday, when we have the opportunity to deal with it today.