Mr. Speaker, if the House sees its way to complete consideration of the Senate amendments to Bill C-55, the magazine bill, and Bill C-49, the land claims bill, today or tomorrow, and I say hopefully today, I will consult my fellow House leaders about the possibility of commencing the summer adjournment without further delay. If these bills are not concluded then of course we will have to complete them next week.
Let me say that it is the intention of the government to follow the sequence I have just enumerated along with the bills I will now enumerate either this week, next week, or when the House resumes in the fall, whichever is the case.
The intention at this time would be Bill C-54, the electronic commerce and privacy legislation; Bill C-68, the youth justice bill, as I indicated a little earlier today; Bill C-56, the Manitoba claims bill; Bill C-48, the marine parks legislation; and Bill C-63, the new citizenship act. These are important bills for the government to take the opportunity to debate whether that means we sit longer or in the fall.
If we adjourn this week, these items will be given a high priority in the autumn. As hon. members are already aware, when the House returns in the autumn the government will be asking parliament to deal on a high priority with legislation ratifying the Nisga'a agreement.
I do want to take advantage of this opportunity to thank all hon. members, including the House leaders, the members for Langley-Abbotsford, Roberval, Winnipeg-Transcona and Pictou-Antigonish-Guysborough for their constructive participation in helping the House of Commons do its work effectively, with the help, of course, of their respective whips.
I also want express my appreciation to the hon. member for Peterborough, whose performance as my parliamentary secretary for the last two years stands as a major contribution to the good operation of this House.
Over the last few days members have been particularly kind in offering me words of congratulations about an event which will occur next week, namely the fact that I will be receiving a degree in history from the University of Waterloo, a little secret I hid from most of us for 11 years. I guess it is my own personal way of countering the brain drain.
I appreciate the kind notes that were sent to me by hon. members, by the people at the table and by others in the House who were similarly kind in sending me notes and expressing kind words. I do not deserve that praise. I appreciate it enormously however.
If I can leave one message for everyone, I do not want anyone to think this was impossible or nearly impossible. That would be the wrong message. The right message, I believe respectfully, is that given the time constraints and if I were able to do it countless Canadians could also work to improve their adult education. I invite all of them to do so for their own satisfaction and the future of their careers.