Mr. Speaker, it is rather interesting to watch the Conservatives try to move an omnibus bill in the House without thinking that the opposition would remind them that there was a time in this House when a certain Reform Party, a certain Alliance Party, and a certain Conservative Party would object to anything that would invoke closure 58 times.
I have been an MP for 13 years. It was my anniversary yesterday.
I watched the Liberals bring closure 58 times, and 58 times I heard the Reformers, the Conservatives, and the Alliance Party members scream like wild hyenas about the Liberals invoking closure. They were right to scream like that about closure. Now we have closure being brought to us by the exact same party.
How does the remailing and the post office and the sale of AECL have anything to do with budgetary items? The fact is, the Conservatives know that those two items standing alone would never be passed through bills. They have tried on the post office twice, and have they failed. Now they lump it into a finance bill, knowing very well that the Liberals have no backbone to stand up to them.
If the Liberals will not do it, we in the NDP will do it.
Why do the Conservatives throw all this other so-called junk legislation into a finance bill in order to rush it through the House without fair and proper debate?