Mr. Speaker, I too am astonished that such a question should be raised.
The gentleman has been a member of this House for six years. I have always heard it said that committees worked in both official languages and that documents were tabled in both, unless there were outside witnesses. When that is the case, we accept tabling in one language, with a committee commitment to have it translated into the other, so that all committee members may have a document in both official languages.
If, however, the document is from an official government agency, such as CBC or the Canada Council, or from a committee member, we require them to be in both official languages.
In addition, the committees are totally autonomous in their rules of procedure, and to my knowledge—and I have a certain degree of overview of the procedures in all committees because of the position I hold within our party—it would appear that it is a universal rule that all documents be tabled in both official languages, unless they come from outside.
I do not, therefore, see any reason for raising this question today.