Mr. Speaker, I need to raise a serious objection to the manipulation and the blatant misuse of the rules of this House that is taking place. Frankly, I am astounded that you, as the Speaker, have already made a ruling ignoring the rules and the procedures that are in place.
We come into this House to debate and to have proper functioning of the House. I have not even seen the motion. I just heard it described to me by the House leader of the opposition, and I am glad he took the time to read it into the record.
However, we need to know what urgent situation exists here. We just began debate on third reading of the budget bill on Wednesday. Nothing is being held up here. The House is not meant to adjourn until June 22. If the government had wanted to bring forward the bill at some earlier time, it had ample opportunity to get it through the House, and what happens in the other place happens in the other place. In terms of our business in this place, this manoeuvre that is being pulled by the government is incredibly manipulative.
Mr. Speaker, I implore you to uphold the traditions and the procedures of this House and not allow this blatant political manipulation to go on of using the rules in a very subverted way for something that we know is not urgent. It rests with you, Mr. Speaker, to follow the traditions of this House, to ensure that all members are fairly heard, to ensure that debate properly takes place and to ensure this kind of political manipulation does not occur. That is the role of the Speaker and we expect you to uphold that on behalf of all members.