Mr. Speaker, when visitors look around the Chamber do you know what they see? They see men and women who essentially have become political eunuchs or human rubber stamps.
The budget debate takes place in the media as a result of leaked details, and parliament rubber stamps the budget. The government works hard to introduce the MAI and committing future governments for up to 20 years, and parliament is all but ignored. Ministers rarely make public policy statements in parliament but choose instead the national press theatre. The government negotiates NAFTA in secret with its dispute settlement panels operating in secret, locks in future governments and basically ignores parliament.
Parliament conducts take note debates on peacekeeping missions and the government essentially ignores the content of the debates. Parliament passes a motion calling for a moratorium on water exports and the government then asks the United States government to join Canada to study the pros and cons of water exports and water diversion. We pass legislation banning MMT and then back down when the U.S. pressures us just like we will do with Bill C-55 later today.
Parliament has become Canada's national theatre and parliamentarians speak not in the House of Commons but in the house of eunuchs.