Thank you very much, so I'll get another opportunity.
This is on the amendment.
I appreciate the comments by my NDP colleague, Mr. Blaikie. I always find that I have to do a little bit of self-reflection every time he speaks. I think he makes some fairly good points about opportunities. We don't always have the opportunity to make consensus choices. Certainly there are examples in which motions are passed at the committee that not everybody agrees with, whether they abstain or what have you.
The challenge I have with this motion is that there is actually an opportunity to have every party at the committee send a message, to the Government of Alberta and Albertans, that reiterates the importance of the CPP, that Canadians benefit from the CPP and that Albertans can be encouraged to stay within the CPP. There is all-party support for that motion. There is not all-party support to make the motion politically advantageous and for the government to use a province to help them in their failing poll numbers.
We could get out of this room today if we actually just dialed down the motion a bit, and I could guarantee you that there would be a news article written about all parties supporting the CPP. I can tell you that there probably won't be a news article written about a highly politically motivated motion that's passed with non-consensus votes.
The bigger point is that there is an opportunity, as the leader of the official opposition has put forward language that supports the CPP. If the other parties aren't interested in considering that language, which was circulated well in advance.... In fact, immediately upon the motion's being moved to debate, the Conservatives worked on and provided sample language that would take the political language out of the third point, including standing with Canadians who wish to protect the CPP and encouraging Albertans to remain in the CPP so that it can be secured for Albertans and all Canadians—with, of course, apologies to the good people of Quebec, who have their own pension plan.
We can pass that today, but the government has decided that it wants to make an example out of Premier Danielle Smith because they're failing in the polls. They'd rather fight her than fight the Leader of the Opposition.
The odd irony in all of this is that this is actually derailing the government's own legislative agenda. There are two bills that have to come before this committee to be passed before we break for the holidays, and it's actually the government that's chosen to move this motion instead. The government's choosing to move a politically motivated motion at committee instead of allowing its legislative agenda to go forward, which seems pretty bizarre to me. They're choosing to pick a fight with Danielle Smith rather than getting certain bills passed through this committee.
What's going to end up happening is that we're going to rush. We'll have very few meetings on the fall economic statement when it gets here. We'll have few meetings on Bill C-56 when it gets here. We won't do our diligence as a committee because the government's interested in picking a fight with Danielle Smith.
I'm not a great historian of parliamentary precedent and motions that have been reported to the House, but it seems a little odd that a committee wants to single out a particular province. Personally, if it said British Columbia, with an NDP premier, or now an NDP premier in Winnipeg, I still don't think that would be appropriate.
There are questions in question period every day about Danielle Smith's CPP plan. Some members can be encouraged to run for provincial Parliament, but the motion as it's written allows the chair to report to the House. That means concurrence can be moved on that motion, which will spark a debate, and members of Parliament can get up and make any comments they like about Premier Danielle Smith and Alberta's CPP.
We have the opportunity—