Mr. Speaker, I will deal with the second proposition in case I do not get around to the first one for reasons of time. In terms of a general resolution of whatever nature the McGrath committee report of 1985 permits the opposition to propose motions in the House on anything. The government does not automatically defeat these motions. As a matter of fact we supported a number of them.
If the hon. member across and his colleague want to indicate support for the government on any issue, which I wish they would at all times as a matter of general principle on this or any other issue, they are quite free to do so.
In terms of the consultation and votes in the past there have been a variety of forms. In the majority of cases there was no consultation at all. There were cases where parliament was recalled, an issue was mentioned in the throne speech and the House voted on the throne speech. That constituted a form of consultation. In other cases it had to do with voting under estimates of the defence department and so on. There were a variety of ways in which that has manifested itself in the past.