Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, I also wish, on behalf of my Bloc Quebecois colleague who sits on that committee, as well as of all of my colleagues who have sat on it in the past, to inform the House leader of the Canadian Alliance and member for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast that we support the question of privilege he has raised.
In this connection, I wish to indicate that, as a member of the sub-committee on private members' business, I undertook in good faith, as did all of my colleagues on both sides of the table in the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs, to perform the arduous task of reviewing and revising the current procedure surrounding private members' business, whether private members' bills or motions.
We had hour after hour of meetings in that sub-committee. We heard from Marie-Andrée Lajoie, who works here at the Table. She did an excellent job of informing committee members of what is involved in amending the Standing Orders. We acted in good faith, therefore. What we were treated to yesterday by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House, the government whip and the deputy government whip was not very edifying. One might well wonder if the entire operation was nothing but a sham and a masquerade with the ultimate intention of putting the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs under the thumb of the leaders' committee or even, I might say, of the leader of the government in the House.
If the government House leader states that he was not aware of this procedure, it must be because there are some people on his side of the floor who do not talk to him.
I would therefore like you to take a serious look at the problem, Mr. Speaker. I am certain you will do so with care, and will take a serious look at the question of privilege being raised by the House leader of the Canadian Alliance.
What is of concern to us, our primary focus, is to enhance the role of backbenchers, who are neither ministers nor parliamentary secretaries, giving them the right to represent the interests of those who elected them. That is what we are calling for, regardless of where we are sitting in the House.