Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Over the last little while I've had the opportunity to listen in. I must say it's hard to listen to a lot of the things that have been said from the other side of the committee room and not necessarily be able to participate in providing some comment or feedback.
I realize that this particular clause deals with the overseas employment tax credit, and there is a series of amendments that we're trying to get the government to be sympathetic to, as we go through this particular clause. But in listening to some of the feedback and some of the comments, especially when we were talking about the civil servants, when we were talking about why it is we're going through this process, there were a number of thoughts that went through my mind and I think it's important to put things in a proper perspective, Mr. Chair.
As much as possible, I think it's very important that we recognize that we are here this evening because, in good part, there is an attempt from the Liberal Party to say to the government that what you are doing is wrong; that this particular budget bill is historic in the sense that never before have we seen such abuse of democracy inside the House of Commons.
It's unfortunate that the government hasn't recognized to what degree they have actually abused the system, Mr. Chair. In good part, that's what this is about. We are bringing forward amendments to different clauses. Now it just happens to be the overseas employment tax credit. At the end of the day, we hope to see some of these amendments actually pass, but we need to recognize that opposition parties today and in the past have taken actions through procedures to try to emphasize where the government has gone wrong.
It's unfortunate that the government tries to portray something that's not necessarily true. What is true is that never before in the history of Canada have we had to deal with a budget bill of this size, of this magnitude. It is changing so many pieces of legislation, not only the overseas employment tax credit, Mr. Chairman, but numerous pieces of legislation, and it is unprecedented.
I believe, at the end of the day—