Mr. Speaker, as a co-chairman of the committee which has now been dissolved-still, I feel a responsibility-I would like to explain why the co-chairman from the Senate and myself decided to produce the report in two separate volumes. This was one single report which was tabled only in this House and the other place, and not two separate reports.
The committee report, dissenting opinions, appendices, position papers, documents and summaries added up to a total of 1,126 pages. This was rather bulky. So, some thinking was required. We sought advice and gave the matter some thought and, finally, decided to publish the report in two volumes, both of which were put in a white folder marked "Committee Report". This is how it was tabled in this House and distributed to the media.
We would have liked the printer to tie them together with something like this to make things easier, but time was short and it would have been too costly. The point is taken, but it is not really fair to say that there are two reports. There is only one report. It was decided to produce the report in two volumes. The first volume is 181 pages long and contains the majority report, while the second volume, with 202 pages, contains the dissenting opinions of the Bloc Quebecois and the Reform Party as well as the appendices.
In addition, we have put together in another volume the 250 pages of position papers prepared by experts, experts recognized by the committee that is. A 483-page summary was also made available in loose-leaf format to limit costs. It can be obtained on request. Since it was impossible to tie the volumes with a plastic or paper tape because the printing deadlines were too short, the two volumes that make up the report were distributed yesterday, as I indicated earlier, in a specially designed folder marked "Report of the Special Joint Committee Reviewing Canadian Foreign Policy".
Positions papers and summaries on the other hand are distributed on request. The index of Volume I indicates very clearly that the report has two volumes and lists the contents of Volume II. This is clear proof that the dissention opinions are part and parcel of the committee report. The Bloc should see in this format nothing more that an effort on the part of both co-chairmen to provide the readers with practical and easy to handle documents.