Mr. Speaker, my colleague has pointed out that some of the omnibus bills in the last government were about as long as the current government's omnibus budget bills. However, the interesting thing about his response to my question is that he said that most of the provisions of this bill deal with sections of the Criminal Code that are obsolete vis-à-vis the charter or the social context. Might I point out that to declare something obsolete in light of the social context is about as general as one can get? There is all kinds of legislation that for subjective reasons some members might view as obsolete in light of a particular social context. In fact, that was, in some sense, their initial argument for the removal of section 176.
I understand the argument that it is okay to do an omnibus bill if there is a common thread. That is their argument now. It was not their argument during the election. We are holding them to the standard they set for themselves. Can they not claim a common thread on almost anything? Are there any limits to the common thread the member would tie across a range of obviously unrelated provisions?