Mr. Speaker, I will just speak briefly, mostly on the amendment proposed by the Reform Party. I will say that we, Quebecers, have the same concerns about the involvement of the Senate, that we should call the other place, I believe, when we refer to it in the House. I am totally in agreement with the amendment which would remove any mention of that other place.
I think that the government-as the leader of the opposition was saying a moment ago-is putting two trains on different tracks, and we do not know where they are heading. There is already a committee on defence, and then a joint committee on defence policy was agreed to a few weeks ago. There is a House Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade and now we want to set up a joint committee. I agree that the other chamber does not need to sit on the committee, does not have to be part of our reflection, because it does not have a democratic mandate. The leader of our party said so in his speech. We certainly are in favour of a review of our foreign policy, as it is necessary, but it should be done by a committee of the House only.
In that sense, the amendment of the Reform Party is certainly desirable. I hope we will do without this relic of colonialism that we call the other place and that is made up of people without a democratic mandate, people who sit there as a political favour, former fund raisers for the two main parties, the Liberals and the Conservatives. There is no reason why these people should be involved in defining our foreign policy. There are enough elected members, including 205 newly elected ones, who have something to say. I could say too that expanding a committee or creating a parallel one is a waste of money.
I wish to congratulate the hon. member for introducing this amendment. I share his views on the relevance of senators in this committee and also on cost, since increasing the number of members would increase the cost should the committee be called upon to travel. This, in my opinion, is a shameful waste of money and, as far as we are concerned, we would rather see the Senate abolished that have it participate to committees.