moved:
That, pursuant to Standing Order 27(1), commencing on June 19, 2006 and concluding on June 22, 2006 the House shall continue to sit until midnight.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to say a few words on this, with the emphasis on a few words. It seems to me that we should not spend forever on any debate that would extend the hours of the House. We want to get to the business of the government.
It is part of a long standing tradition that in the last couple of weeks, Parliament is extended to get its business done. I believe it was 1982 that this became standardized as part of the rules for governing the House of Commons and it is generally done for the last two weeks. However, this is very specific. We are asking for the last week, beginning June 19, to extend sitting dates.
I will be quite candid with the House that we would like to see progress made on the federal accountability act. Great progress has been made in committee and there has been a certain amount of cooperation. There are a lot of amendments that have been dealt with in that committee. It is reasonable and Canadians are expecting that we will deal with that.
I say to Canadians that the schedule of the House of Commons is not overly onerous for any members of Parliament. It is a privilege to serve here and when we get the opportunity, we know we have to come here to work.
At the same time there has been good progress made in this Parliament. Bill C-9, the conditional sentencing act, has been referred to the standing committee. That is a great step forward. I am looking forward to moving Bill C-10, the bill that established minimum sentences for violent crime in this country, to committee so that it can be studied.
We recently had passage of the budget implementation bill. We have made good progress. We are expecting that the federal accountability act will be back in the House very shortly. That is among the reasons why we would like to see the House extend its time for sittings in that last week.
I think it is only reasonable. Whenever we have an election, as we did earlier this year, it cuts into House time, so the Parliament of Canada has not sat as long or as often in 2006 as we might otherwise expect in a year in which there was not an election. This is a reasonable request.
There are other bills that I know are important to members. I have had members from a number of political parties indicate to me they would like to see progress on the second reading debate on the foreign adoption bill and we are prepared to accommodate that. There is one bill I know is very important to members, which is fixed dates for elections. That particular legislation is very important. It is part of that democratic reform package on which I think Canadians are looking to us to proceed.
I am asking for the cooperation of the House in moving this forward. Let us work together and complete the agenda that Canadians are expecting of us.