Mr. Speaker, first, I would like to inform my colleague that I was not a public servant. I was a political assistant. Thus, it cannot be said that we were benefiting from the same protection measures with regard to employment security, for example. However, I worked with many public servants. I noticed on many occasions, during my 10 years of experience, that these people are very dedicated to the cause and the common good of the country.
Indeed, this bill is the result of quite intensive discussions by all committee members. As individuals, they acted in a non-partisan way where this was required. Personally, when I was listening to the members' comments, I was not telling myself that the member who was raising a good point was a Liberal or that another one was a member of another political party. I was listening to the individual and personal wisdom of the member.
During the study, which lasted for quite a long time, I noticed that we were making progress. In May, when we thought that there might be an election, the work slowed down. Government members wanted to speed things up. We had got from the president of Treasury Board the commitment that there would be an independent commission, but the work was not progressing.
Later on, in May, the confidence vote was held. At that time, we were no longer thinking about the election. All of a sudden, we got back to work. We worked quite hard and rapidly to finish the examination of the amendments the day before the House adjourned.
I would also like to make a comment on the speech made earlier by the committee chairman before question period. I have a lot of affection and respect for the chairman of our committee, who comes from an opposition party. However, I found that his speech was a little too partisan. My experience tells me that a committee chairman is certainly a partisan person, but that he must still be wise and rather objective.