Senator Housakos: Again, with all due respect, government leader, the Committee of Internal Economy can meet at any time, as you know. If this issue was as important as it is, why would you wait until the last moment to get this done? Again, with all due respect, on decisions of this nature — which are very important decisions — I, for one, do not believe they should be taken in a vacuum by a bunch of leaders on this floor. These are decisions that impact this institution and should respect the protocol in terms of administrative protocol. The Committee of Internal Economy had authority to meet even while we were on a break, had the authority review this in an appropriate fashion and report to this chamber with a course of action that we could have dealt with accordingly.

Senator Housakos: Honourable senators, again, I’m a little bit perturbed by the debate amongst the leadership here in this chamber, on this floor. You were very quick, Senator Gold, to agree with my friend Senator Saint-Germain about how the chamber here has authority over the Internal Economy Committee and all committees. Of course, senators pick and choose whenever the chamber has the authority to drive and guide committees.

As I said earlier in my speech, the Committee of Internal Economy is the administrative body of this chamber. I still, government leader, find it disturbing that on such an important issue that falls within their purview, they did not deal with it transparently, actively and openly, before it came up the pike here to this chamber. Ultimately, this chamber is the final authority.

The question to you, government leader, is: Why did you rush to put this motion to the Senate floor without it being appropriately debated and reviewed by the Committee of Internal Economy? Will you also agree that before the government takes any measure to reduce the capacity of this chamber to operate at 100%, its maximum capability, that you would consult the Committee of Internal Economy, the members of the Committee of Internal Economy and everyone else involved, before you move a government motion like this?