Mr. Speaker, democracy is the principle underlying civilized human relations in society. Contrary to an all too common notion, it is fragile because it is based on a tacit agreement between parliamentarians and citizens that the most diverse points of view should be heard.
In that respect, our political system leaves a lot of room to the executive branch, which controls the legislative branch and which appoints the judges who administer justice. This is what gives particular importance to our parliamentary committees. These committees are the one forum where partisanship can and must be avoided.
Yesterday the committee examining Bill C-20 ignored this tacit agreement and gave the worst example of blind partisanship by government members.
The government decided to restrict the freedom of the committee in order to ram Bill C-20 through the House. But this is forgetting that democracy is both a means and an end—