Mr. Speaker, I will do my best to do that.
The point is that I was prepared to continue. I was not trying to intimidate the Chair or get him to suspend the meeting. My recollection is that the Chair stated a concern regarding the interpreters, those unsung heroes, those hard-working individuals, and whether we would be able to continue. As well, he wanted to be able to adjourn at the time adjournment was supposed to take place.
Immediately following that, points of order were raised at the standing committee that stated the chairperson could not do that. I commented at the time that I did not believe we should have a committee proceed if we could not provide bilingual services. I made that very clear.
The Chair was fairly clear with the concerns he had and, right away, the opposition started to get excited about the fact that the Chair could not do that. The Chair has a responsibility. I refer the Speaker to some of the committee meetings under the Harper administration where we saw, for example, a Chair who would just suspend a meeting. They have that capability.
A Chair can actually say that they have heard enough. They do not even have to listen, and can just make the decision to suspend a meeting for whatever reason. Members can always raise it.
The member who moved the motion said that he hopes to get you to respond, Mr. Speaker, but in the interim he believes there is an opportunity for informal discussions to take place that could resolve the issue. I am suggesting that this probably would have been the most likely happy scenario if members had concerns. In fact, there are House leadership teams and other venues where this could have been talked about.
To try to use the floor of the House of Commons to say that the Chair or the government is trying to prevent the work of the health committee is a stretch. I believe the standing committee has the ability to resolve it, as other standing committees have done in the past with adjournments and suspensions.
I will review everything that has been said and possibly get back to you, depending on what follows my comments. I appreciate you taking the time to listen to me.