Mr. Speaker, I concur with my colleague from the Bloc and I believe that you and the Table have the number of supply days with each party and the number of votable days. If you look at the list you will see that the NDP has two days with one votable and the Progressive Conservatives have two days with one votable. To do otherwise would upset the balance that has existed in the same number and proportion in the House from the first sitting of this parliament.
Yesterday you ruled that because there was no agreement regarding the allotment of votable supply motions you could not disallow the Conservatives from designating their motion as votable. However there was a deal. It was based on honour and not on paper.
You based your opinion on the assumption that no agreement was apparent. You identified two letters, one from the House leader of the official opposition claiming a deal was struck and one from the House leader of the fifth party making another claim. The letter from the House leader of the Conservatives addressed last year's supply which was an anomaly because of the late start date due to the election. There was a dispute unique to that year and it was resolved by the House leaders. There was never a dispute with regard to a normal supply year. The dispute for this year is new and it breaks the original agreement.
It is unfortunate we did not use some sort of House order to cement the agreement. Normally House leaders honour their agreements. This is a perfect example of how laws are put in place not to prevent honest people from taking advantage of others but to curtail dishonest people. Now the unanimous agreement has been broken.
I will address the definition of agreement you touched on yesterday. I stand by the verbal agreement of the official opposition. I think you will soon find confirmation of it. Other members in the House including the government House leader are likely to stand and support it. We should find that all but one of the parties in the House will agree. The 12 individuals in the fifth party may not. Notwithstanding the position of the Conservatives, there was and is a consensus and therefore an agreement.
As a result of your ruling yesterday you cannot insist on unanimity. If you do there will never be an agreement. You will never get unanimous agreement from the Conservatives because any agreement would prevent them from taking on more votable motions. I am sure you do not mean your ruling to become an obstacle to an agreement. You should therefore make a fair interpretation of an agreement and end the impasse in an attempt to restore integrity to the normally smooth functioning of the House.
My last point has to do with the argument that has been made for the seven independents that attend with the Conservatives. Independents are not allotted supply days. Therefore no claim can be made for more votable supply days as the House leader of the Conservatives tried to claim yesterday.
As you pointed out in your ruling on the matter, the independent members in the coalition have not devoted themselves to the cause in a way that would allow the coalition to present itself as a party in the House. If members have difficulty understanding the concept I will present it in another way.
We could compare the coalition to a ham and egg breakfast. The ham and eggs are both part of the same meal but the chicken and the pig do not share the same dedication. The chicken is only involved whereas the pig is committed. Until the seven remaining chickens get off the fence and follow the pigs into the smoke house the PCs must remain the fifth party in the House. The fifth largest party cannot be entitled to more votable items than the fourth largest party.
The coalition does not deserve what it has. I can understand the members at the other end being upset, but we are talking about the integrity of the House and not whether the fifth party is happy.
There was an agreement. There was no dispute for a normal calendar year. The letter in question from the House leader of the Conservatives addressed last year's short supply year, not a normal calendar year. Despite the lack of unanimity at the moment a consensus of the majority of parties constitutes an agreement by consensus.
Mr. Speaker, I hope you live up to and honour the agreement as we have. If anything, the same situation should exist until all the House leaders agree. If we never come to an agreement the status quo will remain.