Madam Speaker, I do not know if the Reform Party member was in the House when I started to speak. I am not saying that at all. I started by saying that there should be a full debate and that the committee should travel and should hear from people. That is exactly what I am saying.
I am also saying that I do not want the Reform Party to hold the people of Saskatchewan hostage and deny the finance committee the right to travel to Saskatchewan, or anywhere else in the country, to hear about the important issues that are facing farmers, fishermen or people concerned about the health care system and so on.
Reformers are a bit mistaken. We are not saying that there should not be a full and fair debate. We are not saying that they should not have an opportunity to express themselves. There have been many times when opposition parties have had a great deal of impact on government policy and have forced governments to back down. They have the opportunity in terms of the Nisga'a debate to express themselves, to mobilize public opinion and to make their point of view known. We have not said that there should not be a committee travelling on the issue.
This debate is about whether or not the finance committee should travel across the country to hear from the ordinary citizens of Canada. We believe it should. We believe the Reform Party is wrong in trying to stop the finance committee from hearing from the good people of Saskatchewan and the people from other parts of the country on issues that concern them. We do not want the Reform Party to hold the people of the country hostage because of its concern over one issue.