I think we'd be stating the obvious to say that it's about a confidence vote. It's not fair to Canadians to be implementing legislation this way. It's part of a move toward legislative changes that will authorize instructions to be made in all sorts of areas, which will reduce political accountability.
I think it has serious implications for our constitutional democracy. It certainly has implications for the rule of law, particularly when people are going to be making applications under a particular set of laws, and then arbitrarily those criteria will be changed and their applications will be refused without notice to them. After their fee has been collected, after they've waited their turn, their application could be, as the Canadian Council for Refugees said, shredded.
It has really huge implications also for our international obligations--this is something I've set out in our written submissions--when we talk about humanitarian and compassionate applications not being required to be assessed outside of the country.
So these are all very major changes that impact on really fundamental aspects of our democracy. This railroading in passing the legislation, the high-stakes manner in which it's being done, is highly objectionable. It really calls into question the government's commitment to fair, open government.