Mr. Speaker, I have a great deal of respect for the members opposite. My point is that we have had changes to the Standing Orders. Part of those changes was being able to put forward concurrence motions which would then have three hours of debate.
The Conservatives, the members opposite, took that rule and tried to be sneaky with it. They tried to bring in a motion that would have them decide when opposition days occur. That is the purview of the government and that has always been the purview of the government.
As a result of being able to bring in concurrence motions, the members opposite have chewed up roughly 20% of the time in the House that the government has to talk about important issues such as the budget bill and such as the companion piece which will be introduced in this House.
They are so embroiled in procedural gerrymandering and sneaky tricks that they are not allowing us to talk about things like the relationship this government has forged through several pieces of legislation with our aboriginal communities.
I can look to my tenure as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment and to the pieces of legislation such as species at risk, which was held out as a best practice because we invited aboriginals to the table. We acknowledged their intellectual property, community values and the patterns of wildlife, which was very necessary so that aboriginal community knowledge could be incorporated into legislation.