Mr. Speaker, I would like to start by saluting my colleague for his temperate response to my intervention. I would have expected him to make these remarks in his speech on the committee's report.
As I said, I have no objection to the substance. My problem is with the form. The speeches my colleagues just made were rather fiery. I have a very simple question: What is the point of the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations if the Conservatives have already made up their minds? That is the problem. They seem to have already decided what the conclusions of this committee's work should be. If the Conservatives have already made up their minds anyway, regardless of what they are going to hear, I see no point in resuming our meetings.
That being said, I completely agree with the substance, as I said earlier. What is happening right now is extremely troubling, and we cannot stay silent. If we need to allow the committee to resume its work, I am all for it. I am very concerned about the fact that the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development has not yet been authorized to resume sitting. I am just as concerned about the Special Committee on Canada-China Relations. I have no problem with the idea of getting the committee back on track. That is not the issue. The issue is that I do not know why the Conservatives are so eager to resume the committee meetings other than to play political games that I do not approve of. My objective is to have us genuinely work together to find ways of improving relations between the People's Republic of China and Canada, which, it should be noted, have deteriorated considerably over the past few months under the Liberal government. However, the Conservatives' remarks do not seem to be aimed at improving anything.