I thank the right hon. member for correcting that because in fact I actually had given him more than was asked for. I was tempted to forget about it but I thank him for reminding not just me but the entire House for the generosity it showed toward him.
Additionally the member referred to the minister's word being kept secret. The minister's statement was made publicly, was published and is available. Then of course the entire thing, including her speech, was televised.
I do not know about you, Mr. Speaker, but secret televised meetings are very hard to organize, especially when they are published nationwide. A secret, nationwide, televised meeting is in fact what the hon. member alleges. How many of us would actually believe that as a concoction?
Those charges are inappropriate and the member knows it. We want to get this bill passed for the benefit of Canadians not only by the House but the House and the Senate and so that the royal assent process takes place before Christmas. That is our duty.
I believe that all of us, if we look at it responsibly, know that it is our duty. To pretend that because all the minutes of the committee have not been published publicly it prevents the legislative process is inaccurate and the hon. member knows it.
It is not that long ago that we even published these minutes when the House was in recess. We did not even do it when the House was sitting. There was, when I came here only a few years back, three weeks' delay to publish committee minutes. Now it is something like three or four days before we get published minutes.
The hon. member knows that. He knows that has nothing to do with when the report stage of a bill commences. Surely the hon. member knows that. We all know that around here. To say that we should not be doing our jobs as MPs because we do not have the minutes of a committee, particularly of a committee that was televised nationwide, for which the footage is available to anybody who cares to see it, even if all these things did not even exist it would not be a proper proposition.
It is time we got to the business of what is probably the most serious bill I will have passed in my political career, one dealing with the security of Canadians. It is a serious bill.
Some members might argue that the bill could be stronger. I understand that some of them are making that argument. Others are saying it goes too far and would perhaps infringe on rights. I know I am partisan when I say this but the truth is probably somewhere in between. That is exactly where the bill is. However that is a matter for the debate when it starts. Let us get on with debating the content of the bill.