Mr. Speaker, I heard the member opposite say that this was her first speech in the House. I am not sure that I understood correctly. I gather she talked about unprecedented consultations with Canadians.
Pardon me, but that is really not the case, because there is already a long-standing precedent in this House: the prebudget consultations conducted by the Standing Committee on Finance. The precedent lies in the fact that this is the first time there has been no prebudget consultation. That is the real precedent.
The government held pseudo-consultations. Various organizations from various sectors called me to say that someone had called them and given them two days' notice of a meeting to be held in Ottawa. They did not think it was a real committee because the opposition members were not even there. All of this pseudo-consultation is nothing but a joke.
At the very least, will the member admit that no real consultations were held and that it was a load of rubbish?