Madam Speaker, toward the end of the hon. member's remarks he sounded as if he had taken the government position.
We as Liberals led by the Prime Minister have fought against the dismantling of the Pearson International Airport. We did that not only when we sat on that side of the House of Commons. During the election campaign when we heard that the then Conservative government was going ahead we said it was not our policy direction. We did not want to privatize Pearson International Airport. We campaigned against it and we acted immediately once the Prime Minister took office.
In no way, shape or form are Canadians confused when it comes to the decision the Prime Minister took. It was decisive and the right thing to do in the long term interests of all Canadians.
This is a strange approach we we have here today. We are trying to act on the decision and put the Pearson file behind us and properly pay those people who unfortunately got into a bad deal with the previous government.
We are trying to put that file behind us so we can rebuild a market in Toronto with a fresh policy start. There are a lot of unemployed people in Toronto. We do not intend to leave Pearson in the state it is forever.
However we would like to do this as a Government of Canada project. As the member so appropriately recognized, this is a Government of Canada asset. It generates profits for the people of Canada. That is part of the reason we did not want to proceed on this deal. It was not a good deal for taxpayers.
To mix the issue of lobbying with the action of the bill today is not the right way to go. Could the member not see this whole issue of reviewing lobbyist activity, and even reviewing the lobbyist activity as it pertains to Pearson International Airport, could be more appropriately handled when we bring forward the lobbyists registration bill which we will not only discuss in the House but in committee as well? In that way we would not be slowing down the whole process and we could put the bill behind us.