Mr. Speaker, I rise on the same question of privilege to provide some clarity. In my view the government House leader has partially misinformed parliament.
The government House leader and all members know that it is standard procedure for the opposition, and maybe another opposition party or two, to move amendments and subamendments on important bills. This is not out of the ordinary. The purpose is to provide fuller debate.
When I was at a meeting yesterday with the government House leader, other House leaders and whips, they asked us how many more speakers we had and we said about five. The government House leader has forgotten that number.
He also said that the motions we have passed with respect to the amendments would allow each member of Parliament to speak three times. The majority of New Democratic Party members have not had an occasion to speak once on the bill, never mind three times. I have not spoken on the bill and I want to speak on the bill. I stepped aside for members of Parliament who have not had an opportunity to speak yet. I would like to do that at some point.
The final point I want to make is quite outrageous. It deals with what the government House leader said. He failed to give New Democrats notice of this motion. That is absolutely incredulous in view of our co-operative parliament and the way we have made progress in the first three weeks of parliament as five official parties.
He has failed his unofficial pact, denied the pact, or abandoned the pact to provide some co-operation to deal with issues of a substantive nature.