Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to speak today to Bill C-92, the budget implementation act.
I note that this is an act to implement parts of the 1996 budget. It seems more than a little odd that at this late date we are debating a bill which applies to different facets which were brought in under the 1996 budget, albeit in limited fashion because of the government's choice to use a procedure which was just argued against.
What does this mean? Obviously it points to the ineptness of the present Liberal government since it has taken it approximately 15 months to bring forward this legislation. As my hon. colleagues from St. Albert and Calgary Centre pointed out during their very eloquent presentations, it is a tragic misuse of Standing Order 73. It is a way in which the government is able to circumvent the democratic process and utilize a standing order which was agreed to by all members in the House very early in this Parliament. Perhaps we were naive enough to trust the Liberals. We do not do that very often, obviously for good reasons. We trusted the government not to abuse Standing Order 73 in this fashion. We took the Liberals at their word that the intent of Standing Order 73 was to allow more input from rank and file members of Parliament.