Madam Speaker, thank you for noting that the leader of the official opposition has the right to unlimited time. I am not taking unlimited time. We do not have enough time to deal with this.
For the party that earns the most seats next to the governing party because of the hard work of Canadians and the good work of candidates and members of parliament, we earn the right, a hard earned right, to speak at length and in detail about the limitations of a bill that will hurt the security and the safety of Canadians. We will not be cowed and be threatened or intimidated by that. The record will show that I do not hog time in the House. What the government does is restrict time of all members. I am trying to give time to the other opposition parties, and at least one of them seems to be more concerned with some mundane or arcane point of order that has no point at all. I am glad you have recognized that, Madam Speaker, in your usual wise manner.
The bill is not perfect, but it is a start. We have said that. It is odious in some ways, but I am encouraging all members to vote to support it to bring in some measure of security.
I am disappointed in the way the bill was conducted through the House. Canadians deserve better than the way the bill was handled. We are pleased that the government listened to some of the more serious concerns. We are pleased with the way our critic brought these concerns forward, as did other MPs, and pleased that the government did make some very necessary changes to the bill. We recognize that. We have said that all through the process and, frankly, we are somewhat offended when we hear the Prime Minister and others say that we have done nothing or that we totally disagree with all the elements of the bill. We do not. I think I have made that abundantly clear. If any members are still unclear I can continue for another long period of time to point that out, but I think they will recognize that I have made it clear.
However there are still some glaring shortcomings. I sincerely hope that these shortcomings will be remedied in the weeks ahead. There are still ways in which the government can close the gaping holes of security. All in all, I view the bill as an essential tool in preventing and fighting international terrorist activity. Some steps have been taken.
For those reasons and all the reasons indicated today, I will be supporting the bill. I encourage all our colleagues, not just in the official opposition but in the other opposition parties, to do the same for the good of Canada.