Mr. Speaker, I have just a few comments on the private member's motion by the hon. member from the Reform Party.
I would like to address something that he brought up in his remarks with respect to the conduct of Private Members' Business in this House and the ongoing debate as to whether or not all motions and bills that emanate from Private Members' Business should be made votable.
Just on the history lesson side for a minute, some hon. members but perhaps not all may know that it is only recently speaking in the long term parliamentary history that we have been able to vote on anything having to do with Private Members' Business. Prior to 1985, Private Members' Business would come up for an hour, it would be debated, talked out and then would disappear forever to the bottom of the list.
As a result of the reforms that came out of what has come to be known as the McGrath committee, it was decided that this was an unsatisfactory way of doing things and that some bills and motions of private members ought to be able to come to a vote without unanimous consent. Prior to the McGrath committee reforms, it was possible to have a vote on a private member's motion or bill but there had to be unanimous consent and one can imagine just how rarely that took place.
There was this feeling that in order to give Private Members' Business the significance it was due that there should be some process for making sure some private members' motions and bills were made votable. The suggestion at that time was that we would proceed as usual with the lottery to determine which members would have their bills and motions deliberated upon to see whether or not—