Mr. Speaker, I have a question for the hon. leader of the Reform Party. It concerns the deadline of December 31, 1998. I wonder why this particular deadline.
It seems that it has made the motion much more problematic than it needed to be. My understanding is that the premiers would not be happy with a motion passed by the House which required that they and the federal government arrive at an agreement by the end of this month, given what month it is. It seems hard to believe the motion was put forward with any kind of realistic expectation that this could happen, or put forward for that matter constructively, knowing how difficult it would be to meet such a deadline.
Those of us who approach this issue constructively are somewhat mystified at why this deadline would be put in the motion. It is not just in respect of the difficulty of meeting the deadline but also because of the difficulty of having any due process between now and then.
I remember the hon. member and his party castigating the rest of us for lack of public consultation when it comes to these kinds of things. Does the member really think that between now and December 31, 1998 there could be some meaningful public consultation, or has he converted to executive federalism?