Mr. Speaker, we support this amendment because of the overwhelming request for that by all the people who intervened at the committee level.
As I said earlier in debate, I do not see why the Liberals would hold committee meetings, paying for interpreters, paying for all the technicians, paying for the research people, the clerk and all the others who come before the committee if they are not prepared to listen to those who come.
One of the people who came before the committee was Mr. Ashley from the National Transportation Agency. I specifically asked him the meaning of "commercially fair and reasonable". His response was there is no specifically defined position since it may mean rather than it would.
This was to cause a lot of uncertainty for shippers who wish to bring their cases before the agency. It also means a great boost for the law profession, as it argues the two opposite extremes of this definition.
It was not there before. The vast majority of people who came before the committee do not want to see it there now. We have not seen any evidence to suggest it serves a useful purpose. We would like to see that taken out and we are very happy to add our support to the hon. member for Mackenzie in his attempts to have this removed.
Motion No. 24 ties into the same thing. It is an amendment to what is now clause 112. It is not necessarily a good amendment. It would be ideal to have the clause removed completely, in which case Motion No. 24 would simply disappear.
If the government intends to use its majority to push through a decision that was unpopular among shippers, among the majority of people who came before the board, and that was not even supported by the National Transportation Agency, with great reluctance we will probably support Motion No. 24 because it is the equivalent of losing only a finger or two when you had been threatened with losing your entire arm. I do not think it is that good. It is probably more like losing it above or below the elbow. That would be a more appropriate analogy.
Motion No. 24 does not make much improvement. If the Liberals are condescending enough to allow us to have that little crumb and will not do what is right, we will have to take whatever is left over.