Mr. Speaker, I have nothing but sympathy for the member for St. John's East having his own vertiginous moment here. I am quite fond of the member for St. John's East, and I want to commend him quite uncategorically and say that he has worked very hard on this file. He has worked very hard on this file in this Parliament and in the previous Parliament. His 20-minute explanation at this stage as to why the NDP is having a moment of support for the government is an interesting phenomenon. I wish him well.
The member started off by saying that NDP members made 55 speeches against the principle of the bill. They probably did. In fact I think I even heard some of them repeated this morning, with an amendment at the end that said “but we are going to vote in favour of the bill”.
The member worked very hard in committee, and I commend him for his work. He moved 22 amendments and had no success with any one of them, which is unfortunate. I think the bill would have been improved by a number of his amendments.
Then the member said they were taking credit for what movement the government did make. I am not quite sure what movement the government did make, but nevertheless let us say they did. It is regrettably a stripped-down version of it.
At the end of the committee, he was so unhappy with the lack of movement by the government that he filibustered for four hours. I declined the opportunity to listen to my hon. colleague for four hours, and now he is back in the House supporting the government's bill.
I would ask the hon. member, when he is having his vertiginous moment, if his stomach in fact turning.