Madam Speaker, I am pleased to address the third group of amendments on Bill C-2, the Canada Elections Act.
We had very interesting debates through the first group of amendments. As members know, that first group dealt with self-employed workers. We were able to see, during the debate on that group, that the government is not very open to this category of workers.
The second group of amendments deals essentially with financial issues, including all the issues relating to the financing of political parties. Once again, it seems that the government has been very unreceptive to the various proposals put forward by opposition members.
In this third group of amendments, we address the partisan appointment of election officials, in particular the chief electoral officer himself, returning officers and assistant returning officers, in other words everyone responsible for the proper conduct of elections, across Canada of course, but also in each of the 301 ridings throughout Canada and Quebec.
But before saying anything more about the amendments in Group No. 3, I would simply like to make a general comment about the manner in which the government has conducted the debate so far and to make an even more general comment about how the government has operated for a number of months now.
I think we could say, without the shadow of a doubt, that this government, whose parliamentary majority is fairly slim, to say the least, does not shy away from an almost autocratic style of operating, imposing one gag after another. Indeed, this is a government to whom bringing in closure has become second nature.
Parliamentary procedure, as we know, is part of the rich and time-honoured parliamentary tradition, which makes available a certain number of provisions for ensuring the right to speak of the opposition and of various members of the House, but more particularly of members of the opposition parties.
The opposition quite rightly relies on these various provisions to put forward its arguments and points of view, as well as the points of view expressed by the people of Canada and of Quebec through the opposition parties.
But the government, convinced that it is right, that it knows everything, does not wish to hear points of view that differ from its own, and imposes closure. We saw this with Bill C-20, when the government brought in closure at second reading in order to speed up committee stage. At the moment, on the committee, the government is preparing to gag deliberations; it told us right off that it would probably proceed in the same manner with subsequent study in the House, that is, at report stage and at third reading.
I would add as a small aside that Bill C-20 is probably one of the most important bills ever given us to study since our election in 1997 and, certainly in my case, since the 1993 election. There have been a lot of other very important bills, but none intended to question the very bases of this country, the very bases of Canadian federalism, the very process the provinces that chose to join together to form this country used at the time.
Some very upsetting and scandalous things are happening with Bill C-20. The government wants to prevent the people from being heard on a bill that directly affects their future, the future of Quebec in Canada or outside it, the future of any province—although Quebec is clearly the focus—the future of any other province in Canada either inside or outside Canada, and it wants to rush this bill through in secrecy, without anyone expressing an opinion. That is totally unacceptable.
The government is pushing its arrogance, adding insult to injury, bulldozing, if I may put it that way, another basic bill in a democracy and perhaps even the most fundamental bill in a democracy, the Elections Act.
The government claimed to have shown goodwill in introducing Bill C-2, saying “We will take into consideration the various positions in this House; we do not want to impose closure; we do not want to rush parliamentary procedure; we want to hear and, if possible, even integrate the suggestions of the opposition”.
And what happened? First the committee deliberations were hurried up in a rather cavalier fashion, I must say.