Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Westmount—Ville-Marie for raising this point of order in the House.
Of course, since we had no notice either, we will verify what he said and consider the various points of view. Then we will come back to the House to discuss it. This is extremely important. One million Canadians are affected by these massive changes and a growing number of people across the country are opposed to this.
Therefore, when the government House leader stands and says that we have to look at the objective or the purpose, the objective or the purpose, I imagine, of hiding this tax information exchange agreement inside a larger omnibus legislation is simply to hide it from the million Canadians who are profoundly impacted by the government's action.
The reality is, as you know, Mr. Speaker, that bilateral tax information exchange agreements are filed in the House. It is quite correct to say that the practice has been to bring it forward to the House and not to hide it in omnibus legislation.
We have seen these practices here for years. There are also the practices the hon. member for Westmount—Ville-Marie was talking about, such as the Ponsonby Rule. That rule comes from another Parliament, but a Parliament that we are modelled after nonetheless. In both cases the practices are the same.
I will come back to this point later today. I think it is extremely important and I hope that you will carefully consider this matter before coming back to the House.