Mr. Speaker, I did not get into this debate yet and I did that for a specific reason. Frankly, sometimes I think I have terrible luck because I got stuck being on duty today of all days, and I have had to listen to this debate ad nauseam.
I honestly believe that all the points were made were in the first two speeches. That was much earlier today, and I have had to sit here. I think the public is probably tired of hearing about all of this. I honestly do not know if there is any substance to these allegations or not, neither does the public nor does anyone in this room. This is all the more reason why more and more people are asking parliament to be done with this issue and move on to some issues of substance.
However the reason the House of Commons could be seized by such a petty issue is that the legislative agenda of the Liberal government is such thin gruel that there is very little else to debate. Nature hates a vacuum and when there is one all kinds of things rush in to fill that space. That is what we are seeing with the precious time we have in the House of Commons.
Would the parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister not agree that there are far more issues of substance that we should be dealing with? We should be dealing with the recent articles we saw from groups like the anti-poverty activists on the growing gap between the rich and the poor, which is expanding to an embarrassing degree. Would the parliamentary secretary not be willing to admit that his government is partly at fault for not having any issues of substance for the country to really get seized on, therefore leaving a vacuum that can be filled by the waste of time we are witnessing today?