I too have searched through the books which would say that the Speaker has the discretion after the government has brought in time allocation 20 times. Some people would say 20 times is too much. Other people would say, as you have, that because it broke a standard which was set by another government, then that point is too much.
The Speaker has no guidance from the House as to what is too much or what is too little. At this point I would imagine, as Speaker Fraser said, if every bill and every motion were subjected to time allocation, that would be a bit much.
However, I am very much interested, as Speaker and as a servant of the House, in what the hon. member had as a second suggestion. At this point at least the hon. House leader of the opposition wants me to draw a line in the sand, saying that this is as far as it goes. I would much prefer that the House deal with this problem, as House leaders have for 133 years. They were able to sit down to figure out what would be a reasonable amount of time for debate and, after that amount of time, what would be reasonable in terms of the use of time allocation.
If there is discord in the House, surely it is not up to the Speaker to jump in and cause more discord. The five House leaders are here to listen to what I have to say. If there is this discord which the hon. House leader of the opposition has brought up, then I would encourage the House leaders to get a system which would work for all of us.
I think, at least at this point, that I would not be prepared to intervene, but I am very much prepared to encourage the House leaders who are here today to come together to find a solution that we could all live with so that members of the House can perform the functions for which we were elected.
The government is here to present motions and bills. The opposition is here to make them better; to question them along the way. We all understand that the opposition, the dissenting voice, has every right to be heard. On the other side, Speaker Fraser has said, and I am paraphrasing him, that the government has the right to govern.
At this time, is the House dysfunctional? I would argue that if there is this discord, that it be addressed by the House leaders. I would ask you to do this as soon as possible and, if at all possible, before we adjourn for the summer. I think that suggestion is an excellent one.
I see that the hon. member for Winnipeg—Transcona, who is a respected parliamentarian, wants to make an intervention and I will permit a very short intervention if he wishes to add something.