Mr. Speaker, there used to be 11 criteria that a private member had to comply with before the bill would be considered votable, or at least most of those points had to be complied with. Now there are only five. The member has mentioned one of them, that of national interest. Also, if it is on the government's agenda already it is not be deemed votable and so on.
In answer to his question on why a bill is not deemed votable, it is almost impossible for me to guess why other members on the committee would not allow an item to be votable or would not allow it to come forward. It almost appears to me as if the committee has become partisan. The committee has been divided on government and non-government or right wing and left wing lines. If a certain issue comes up that is deemed to be on the agenda of the other side, it is almost impossible to get that item to be votable. It may be very important, but it is almost impossible to do.