Mr. Speaker, I will be the defender of British tradition in the House of Commons. Under this parliamentary system there is an official opposition. We do not choose it; we take it as it comes. The tradition is that in committees we allocate jobs according to the status of the official opposition. They are members of Parliament. They are members of Parliament elected to come to Ottawa.
They wanted to break up Canada and they did not succeed yesterday, so they are still members of Parliament in Canada and they have the right to sit on committees. With respect, it is a tradition developed in the British parliamentary system, and coming from rural Quebec I am happy to defend the British tradition.