Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you for allowing this kind of preliminary discussion on the motion. Some of my colleagues have made some really good points. I appreciate that everyone feels as I did when I prepared the motion.
I think Mr. Jean is indicating to us that we may be rushing to some conclusions prior to actually having studied the issue thoroughly enough. I don't want to fall prey to that myself.
As for Mr. Masse's case, I have found myself in the same position as the driver of that van. I used to coach basketball teams. Teenage boys are a tough crowd to handle at the best of times, and when they go to basketball tournaments it's the worst of times. I drove precisely those types of vehicles. Those vehicles became outlawed in my city quickly enough, but it was done in indirect fashions. For example, school boards required the drivers to hold a particular licence and take out additional insurance prior to getting behind the wheel. Well, if you're the coach and driver and have to absorb the responsibility and costs, I think the lawyers around the table will tell you that sort of puts a chill on enthusiasm for doing other things. Of course, the school boards couldn't afford to assume the additional transportation costs, so programs were curbed.
That didn't stop many operators from engaging in after-sales market development of the vehicle. As I understand it, that is now banned in several places, at least for the kind of use I used to engage in, like many other coaches.
Notwithstanding the fact that this might seem strange to others, now that we've put it on the table I would like us to give this the thorough attention it requires. With all due respect to Monsieur Laframboise, I'm not sure that I'd be able to get that thoroughness of examination by slotting in Transport Canada at the next session when we have an hour of free time. I really think we need to spend much more time getting Transport Canada officials on this and getting the kinds of answers we need.
If Transport Canada is providing the guidelines and regulations, I don't want anybody to come here and try to pull the wool over my eyes—I'm not sure they would. I want to make sure that our effort is as genuine as the people who are the most immediate victims of that tragedy would like parliamentarians to be.
In that spirit, let's defer it until we have what the examination by people who are in the field gives us, so we can more appropriately ask Transport Canada the kinds of questions we want answers to. I wanted to make sure we got it on the table, but I'm asking for a deferral so our judgment of the responses will be much more studious.