Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague. He is a good friend of mine, a very astute biologist, and has a great track record when it comes to all things of the environment, but the question I have for him today is more about the choice of the NDP to have this topic brought before the House.
The Parliament of Canada runs at an operating cost of about $500 million a year. The House of Commons sits about 137 days a year, which is about $3.7 million a day when we factor in the cost of running the House on that basis. On the issue before the House today, there is virtually unanimous consent among all MPs. I would doubt that even a single MP is going to vote against this motion. This is an issue that could have easily been handled by writing letters to the minister, bringing it up at committee, even just making an odd complaint in the public media.
I do not have one letter in my constituency office on this subject. I do not understand what all the fuss is about in an election year, with an election six months away. When we have all kinds of issues facing our country, such as international jihadist terrorism threats, other economic issues, and so on, the issue that the NDP brings up is microplastics.
It is clear that my colleague understands this issue. Does he have any confidence in the NDP's ability to judge what is important in this country?