Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order. Hon. members will note on the Order Paper that the recommendation from His Excellency the Governor General has been provided for this bill in order to permit the House to consider its final passage without conflicting with either Standing Order 79(1) or section 54 of the Constitution.
The government is pleased to have this opportunity to take the unusual step of obtaining a recommendation for a private member's initiative, which is entirely within the spirit and the letter of our program of parliamentary reform.
I must caution the House however that this individual case has been examined by the government carefully and it is only because Bill C-216 fits with the existing fiscal framework that the government has been able to take this opportunity.
The House should not consider this case as a precedent. It is highly unlikely that there will be many cases that lend themselves to this kind of accommodation. In order to maintain strict control over expenditure the government will insist on the strict enforcement of this order and in the other place of the constitutional principle that no expenditure may be voted by a parliamentary motion or bill without the explicit recommendation to this House by His Excellency.