Mr. Speaker, I too was at the committee hearing when we moved to disallow those regulations. To support the hon. member's presentation, the discussion about whether or not people think this is a good idea is a political decision made by politicians. We can all weigh in to the debate in a public way about that.
I agree with the member that committee clerks or legal counsel should not be writing to the paper in what is an obvious attempt to win over public support when their job is to give legal or professional opinions to committee members and politicians of all stripes. They are non-partisan and non-political and very essential contributors to the debate.
I was one of the members to move that motion. One of the other things that prompted many of us to feel it was time to take this kind of a measure was not just the substance of which the member from B.C. has already made mention but also the timing. There is only a certain window when regulations apply. Otherwise the season starts, people start making ad hoc regulations that govern the Fraser River fishery and the timing of it is essential.
We brought it forward deliberately at that time in order to bring this to resolution because once the fishing starts in the Fraser River in my riding it takes on a life of its own. The lack of regulations or improper regulations or, I would argue, illegal regulations have no place when the courts have already said it is time to fix the rules and fix the law before we start bringing in the regulations.