Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I will not take as much time as my government colleagues, but I can tell you that what we are hearing today is far from helpful.
As Mr. Warawa saw fit to quote from his encyclopedia, let me quote in turn from my dictionary. The definition of “dilatory“ is “describes an action intended to delay the outcome of a trial or the passage of a piece of legislation…“.
That is exactly why we have Ms. Duncan's motion before us today. Mr. Warawa is a gentleman, as, generally, all hon. members are. The problem is that those hon. members are falling in line with their party's petty strategy, as we have seen in recent sessions. This committee of Parliament is becoming less a forum for debate and change and more a partisan tool.
For two sessions—Mr. Benoît was not here to comment on the other sessions—Mr. Warawa has monopolized the time in order to talk about one single clause. if that does not meet the dictionary definition of “dilatory“ that I just quoted, I don't know what does.
In my opinion, each party's time must be limited. We want to work on, and possibly amend, the bill. The way to move the work forward is to limit the time.
In the last two years, the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development has in fact been noted for its endless study of the matters referred to it. The tar sands study and the Species at Risk Act are examples, and we are now doing the same thing with Bill C-469. And it's not the opposition that has decided to delay our work.
So I think we have to limit the time provided to each political party. That is why we are going to support Ms. Duncan's motion.