Madam Speaker, it is very interesting to listen to the Liberals go on and on and on trying to explain around the issue of time allocation.
The reality nonetheless is that in the 35th parliament the Liberals used time allocation 35 times, 32 time allocation motions and three closure motions. This is the same group of Liberals who while on this side of the House decried this kind of anti-democratic, dictatorial bullying tactic by the government of the day.
In this the 36th parliament, there have been 11 time allocation motions. It is quite unconscionable. It speaks to the management of the affairs of this House. The fact that this Liberal government is incapable of giving the House adequate time to put forward the concerns of the people of Canada over issues like this one is completely unacceptable.
It is a management problem of the affairs of this House that has created this situation. We are being bullied into voting on second reading of this bill by 6.30 tonight. This is after only one day in the House. After only one day we have to vote.
The expiry date was no surprise. The expiry date of March 31 has been a known quantity for five years. Why could the Liberals not have managed the affairs of the House in such a way that we would have had an opportunity to debate this matter perhaps last fall or at least get it out into the open? We are not talking about nickels and dimes here. We are talking about countless billions and billions and billions of taxpayers' dollars.
The previous speaker, after having used the lame excuse that there is an expiry date that has to be met as an excuse for the time allocation, said that everything is fine because in fact there is a government to government decision making process. There again, that just shows the mentality of this government. It does not realize it has a responsibility to come to this House, to come to the members of this House.
I represent approximately 87,000 people in the southeast corner of British Columbia. I should have a voice in this House and be able to speak on this bill in an intelligent way on behalf of the people in my constituency. The debate should be full and free flowing, hopefully with the government listening and taking some direction from the people whom I represent as I speak for them.
Instead what is going on is the Government of Canada is getting together with Brian Tobin and his government, getting together with Glen Clark and his government, getting together with Mike Harris and his government, so everything is fine because the governments have negotiated this. The reference to this place, the reference to the House of Commons, the reference to parliament is inconsequential. Parliament is being treated as a rubber stamp by this government.