Yes, and it was my understanding, Mr. Chair, that amendments were supposed to be submitted in advance and in writing, so I'm a little concerned. There have clearly been discussions between the Bloc and the government on this amendment, as evidenced by there being translated copies of it here. We haven't had the opportunity to review any of that.
It isn't our understanding that this is how this proceeds when we are dealing with legislation, because all amendments are supposed to go through the legislative clerk to ensure that they are in order, that they don't impact other sections of the bill. I'm a little concerned that now, after being told very clearly how amendments were to be submitted, we're able to add things on the fly.
Perhaps you can clarify what's going on, in terms of whether this is even in order. If so, it certainly seems to go against the spirit of what we are trying to accomplish and what we were all told we had to do in order to have our amendments cleared.
It was quite a process, I have to tell you, Mr. Chair—several days' worth of back and forth—and to now just have it happen on the floor seems to be a departure from what was done, so I would look for your guidance there. If this is the way it could have been done, why did the rest of us go to the trouble of working with legislative counsel to make our proposals known ahead of time?