Right. Exactly.
There are times when we will not be able to agree. I think the government should have the right occasionally, not always.... My worry with this document is that it will become an “always”.
With regard to programming, as it is explained here, I'll get to the reason it's a bad idea. The examples used do not translate well to our House of Commons. I'm worried that it will become a permanent feature of this House and a permanent feature at the committee level. We already see it during committee of the whole: we don't actually debate directly the amendments; everything is on division, as much of the work the committee of the whole used to do is now done at the committee level.
Is it an anachronism? You could have an entire study on whether committee of the whole still serves a relevant purpose, but it should not be done within the context of this, rushed by June 2.
As Mr. Christopherson said when he was here—and I see that Mr. Donnelly has joined us—I simply don't see what the rush is to do it by June 2, with such a massive change to the way the House, Parliament, gets through its business.
To get back to the point, it's not the government's business, it's Parliament's business. They come to us for approval and we grant our approval when we so wish. The government represents the crown, after all. They're acting on behalf of the crown. We shouldn't be automatically accepting of everything they propose, even those members of the government caucus.
I had discussions with certain members on Bill C-14, and I'm sure they were kind enough to pass on my comments to the justice minister, because I saw some of what I had mentioned in private appear in the bill. I still appreciate very much that it was done.
Those types of opportunities will vanish, because we will have been programmed. Why would we then come to talk to government caucus members in the hopes of having influence over government legislation? The process is predetermined. The fate of the government bill is assured. When it gets to the Senate, who knows? They have a different way of doing things. They are more independent now—autonomous maybe. Our Senate is now turning into something more like the U.S. Senate.
For all those individuals who complain about the gridlock in the American system, just be careful: 10 or 15 years from now, Canada might have exactly the same type of problems, with senators holding up appointments, senators holding up bills, senators filibustering in the Senate for excessive amounts of time or passing huge amounts of legislation in Senate bills and them sending them to us to deal with during private members time. We will simply not have rules in place to deal with the volume, just as has happened in the U.S. system when they don't have a House leader to lead these issues through on behalf of the government because they're all independent thinkers.
I'll mention, because I have a few examples I want to use, how they changed their rules and the regrets many of them have after they change sides. Someday the government caucus will be on this side, as the opposition caucus, not as a government caucus. I don't think you just switch sides like that. But you'll be on our side.