Mr. Speaker, I point out for the minister that it was yesterday when I raised the question about the timing of the government's approach during the course of the regular Thursday afternoon question about House proceedings.
The issue is one of how quickly the government has been able or unable to assemble the necessary provisions to proceed. It is still open to the government, having commenced this debate today, to proceed on Monday, not on Tuesday, if the situation is as dire as the minister has described. We have heard the representations of a great many Canadians, just like he has. Therefore, we would agree that the situation is very serious.
It is terribly unfortunate that the problem has deteriorated to this level, but those are the facts we are dealing with today. It seems to me that it would be important for the government to reconsider, in its own scheduling, whether it wants to wait until next Tuesday or whether it would be prepared to proceed on Monday, which is an option that is still available to it.