Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Compton—Stanstead. He is a good hockey player and a member who asks good questions in the House.
I have to say the bill is not very exciting. We are talking about changing regulations that most people do not understand. Even though I am an accountant by profession, it took me several hours to understand what this bill is doing. I told myself that this was not important and there would be lawyers who would sort it all out, but in fact, when we start to look into it more deeply, to think about the effects on the future and the way this is going to affect Canadians, we realize that we need to think twice about it. This is not a bill that is talking about crime or the economy or the budget, and so people do not find it very exciting.
The government is introducing the bill on a Wednesday afternoon, after passing another bill. It is starting to play a game. It says we are going to pass this one because it comes from the Senate so it is not important. But when we look at the Senate debates and the testimony at the committee meetings, we see that the committee did a serious job. There was other work that was supposed to get done, but the Conservatives imposed a gag order on the Senate for this bill and they swept it under the rug just before the Christmas holiday.
We therefore need to do our duty, and I hope the Conservatives will let us do our job here in the House.