Mr. Speaker, first, let us remember what happened. The bill was tabled in the House on December 13. We all know that the bill was put in the public domain at that time. The supreme court reference was on August 20, 1998. Things are not being discovered five minutes prior here. This is something that is progressing and it is an issue which has been in the public domain for a long time.
When we tried to introduce the bill last fall, the House was greeted with all kinds of dilatory motions to stop the bill from proceeding. Newspaper clippings were tabled and hours and hours of House time were wasted. It is not the government which acted in an unreasonable way.
Finally, the bill was tabled. The Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs made an excellent speech in the House at the beginning of the debate. The very first item of business for the House to consider when we returned in February was this bill. It has a very high priority. It is an important issue.
That does not mean the bill is very long. That is a different proposition. It does not have hundreds of pages and thousands of clauses. It is not a bill which is very lengthy to study or read, but it is important. Those are two different concepts which some people seem to confuse when it suits them.
We have had several hours of debate. We have had stalling and more stalling in the House. Then we put the motion for time allocation.