Mr. Speaker, as I prepared to speak on the motion it seemed the hon. member from the Bloc must not have realized what was in Bill C-101, because it is exactly what he is asking for.
However I listened to the content and the direction of his speech and obviously he was aware of it. It seems as though he went around in a circle and fell out the middle. I am not really sure what its purpose was unless it was simply to take another 20-minute opportunity to bash Canada and promote Quebec's separation.
The member is looking for a particular provision that is contained in Bill C-101, specifically in clauses 143 and 145. On the one hand he says this is an urgent matter and that he wants to get it done very quickly. At one point he used the word retroactively. There are a couple of things with the Bloc Quebecois that I would like to do retroactively.
There is a bit of a paradox here. While the hon. member stood to say this was an urgent matter that needed to be taken of quickly, Bill C-101 is scheduled to go for clause by clause consideration and to come back to the House for final passage the week following next week's break. He also said that Bill C-101 needed to be extended, that there has not been enough time and that they want to stretch it out.
I do not know why he needs more time. We have heard dozens and dozens of witnesses, intervenors in committee. The hon. member, as the transport critic for the official opposition, is a member of the committee. Perhaps he needs more time because he has not been at many of the committee meetings. He showed up once or twice.
I am the national transport critic for the national opposition party and I have been at those meetings. Any time I have not been able to attend my colleagues have been there in my support and in support of people across Canada. People can approach the government and make application to the government. They can also approach a creditable, viable opposition party when they do not happen to agree with what the government is doing or they want to ensure there is more pressure and support.
The hon. member has shown up at committee meetings on occasion. I cite one of those occasions to show how his interest has nothing to do with national transportation or with the act. It only has to do with his own sovereignty, separatist agenda. Last week one or two witnesses had already spoken and then we heard from a group of representatives of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities representing municipalities across the country, including in Quebec.
Toward the end of the intervenors' presentation the hon. member joined the committee for a brief period of time. As questions to the delegation opened he immediately tore into them, in a very vicious and embarrassing manner, because the brief was not presented in French as well as in English. Had he been there at the beginning he would have heard the explanation and apology for the fact that it was not available in French, that it would be available the following day, that the delegates had only completed the brief that morning, that they would have normally done this, that they always do but on this occasion they did not have the time to do it. It was
quite an embarrassing outburst from someone who claims to be a member of the national official opposition. It may be official by name, but it is certainly not national.
The hon. member stayed for the next presentation, which happened to be by a delegation from the province of Quebec, and then left before any further presentations were made.
I do not know what his real bottom line is. If his real bottom line is to have the amendments made that have been outlined in his motion, they are contained in Bill C-101. He can come to the committee and aid us in completing that bill. I am sure amendments will be offered. I shudder to think what will come from his party, but I am sure amendments will be proposed. I can guarantee that there will be amendments proposed by the Reform Party. Amendments have been proposed by the Liberal Party. The bill is there to be examined. The committee will hear presentations and will react to the needs of the Canadian people.
If the hon. member comes to the committee for the purpose of aiding it and seeing the bill completed, then he will get the very things he asked for this morning. However, if he comes to the committee to delay and extend the proceedings, after having not been to any of them, then he is fighting not against Bill C-101, not against the Liberal government, but against his own motion. That will be a very interesting aspect for him to take up.
I would close by pointing out one item for clarification. From time to time, prior to the referendum and since the referendum, the Reform Party has raised the question of who rightly should be the official opposition in the House. By past precedent it falls to the Bloc Quebecois because it has a superior number of one. Some people, both those sitting opposite and some misinformed people in the media, have claimed that the Reform Party has done this by way of opportunism. It was not opportunism; it was our duty to the Canadian people and our obligation as members of the House to represent all of Canada on all bills, including national transportation bills, rather than the narrow views of one separatist group within one province.
If the hon. member co-operates he will get his wish.