Make no mistake, Mr. Chair, democratic resistance did prevail in major ways over the last two months. Frankly, and I'm not speaking to my colleagues across the way who are sitting as colleague MPs—they are not in cabinet, they are not the minister—would the government have announced that it was doing the about-face in several areas that it announced on Friday without the tenacious, all-hands-on-deck opposition coming from the NDP and from the leader of the official opposition? Would it have done so without an amazing outpouring of civil society protest? Would it have done so without scholars and editorial boards speaking out with reasoned arguments that endorsed the NDP's arguments in the House, and in our cross-country hearings that this committee would not endorse, that we had to do on our own, and without over 70 witnesses coming almost to a person to take this bill apart bit by bit?
Frankly, and here I do want to thank my colleagues, many of whom remain nameless even to me, and without Conservative MPs' responding to the effort started by the official opposition that created so much pressure, plus the persuasive efforts with MPs across the way.... Some of it went on throughout the testimony, and I'm not saying that this was not listened to by my colleagues, some of it was, but many other backbenchers weighed in. I know this. Without all this, there's no way the government would have backed down on a single item, I am convinced, given their “our way or the highway” approach.
We have had 10 hours of amendment discussion, clause-by-clause consideration, and I'd like to report, in case nobody noticed, that not a single opposition amendment, of many dozens, has been accepted to this point.