Thank you.
That amendment has been moved. Am I correct?
Terrific. Now I'll be speaking about the amendment, if that's correct.
With respect to Bill C-59, I want to clarify that there is no conspiracy afoot to delay this legislation. The fall economic statement was introduced almost six months ago. It's actually unprecedented. It's running parallel to the budget. That's not because of Conservatives. That's because of the Liberal Party's mismanagement of their calendar. Those are just the facts.
As part of the discussion on Bill C-59, yes, we think it would be informative and illustrative to have Mr. Carney appear. He is the former governor of the Bank of Canada. He's the former governor of the Bank of England. We believe he's not just a random Liberal and not just any private citizen. I think it's been well reported out there that he will be the next leader of the Liberal Party. His input on Bill C-59 is not only important but also critical.
We followed the legislative process. We invited him as part of the process. He refused to appear. It is not the first resource of Conservatives or, I would think, of any MP to summon someone. We give them, first, a chance to respond. He failed to respond. Now we're bringing in the next part. Bill C-59 is, of course, about ready to conclude. We have the budget going forward, so it is not out of order. In fact, it's completely within order. We followed the process. We put him on the witness list. He refused to attend. Now we're coming back.
We weren't going to summon him, but the NDP seem to think it's required. We will agree somewhat reluctantly with their request to summon Mr. Carney, because we think it's a bit of overkill. We would expect and hope that all members would utilize, in a common-sense manner, the powers that are bestowed on us to get important witness testimony from Mr. Carney.
Thank you very much.