Mr. Speaker, it is not my fault if the room empties when I stand up to speak. I try to do my best. I do appreciate the assistance to bring in some of my colleagues whom I know are working hard at their desks on behalf of the people of Canada and their constituents.
People often wonder why the Chamber is so sparsely populated when members of parliament speak. It is because we have so many things to do and committees are just one example. Even though the official committees are not up and running yet, although I understand they will be in a day or two, we, in particular, have caucus committees. We have interparliamentary committees of Canada and Europe that are meeting and, as we speak, the Canada-Taiwan interparliamentary committee is meeting.
Last evening I had the privilege of having dinner with the parliamentary group from Barbados who are here on official business and will be here for question period. There is a lot of work to do. I recently attended a meeting of AECL where it gave us an update of its work around the world. To denigrate the work of members really is not fair. It is not something that I would do on that side of the House and would not expect it to be done here.
I would say that the committee system is very clear in this government. In this place, in Ottawa, there is a role for opposition members. Sometimes I am quite surprised, actually. Were I in opposition, I think I would be substantially more aggressive in going after—