Mr. Speaker, my question for the minister is on process and deals with the fact that, again, the government has chosen not to refer the bill to committee before second reading. If the matter were of the urgency the minister says it is, after five hours of debate the bill could have been automatically referred to committee before second reading, if the government had chosen that route. That would have then allowed committee to hear all the witnesses and to engage in a very constructive manner on that bill.
I do not recall that the current government has, at any time, chosen to use that particular process, which greatly legitimizes the work of committees. It is just forcing a guillotine on the time, again, without using a much more constructive approach by referring it to second reading.
Why has the government, again, decided not to choose a more constructive and, I think, more participatory manner of dealing with the bill?