Mr. Speaker, I would start by mentioning it is hardly a criticism that the previous government did not have a desire to change the rules and then did not get them changed. I do not even know if it is really the beginnings of a criticism.
I do know that the current government has committed to changing the rules of the House. Then the question becomes whether the Liberals are proceeding in a way that will actually achieve so-called “real change”.
If we look at their record, attempt number one was Motion No. 6. It was a colossal failure for the government, and rightly so. That motion never should have come to the floor of the House of Commons in the first place, and certainly there was no attempt at collaboration.
Then, instead of learning from that mistake as a government that in good faith wants to change the rules of the House to make it better, as many members on all sides of the House want to do, the Liberals took the same tack, which was to publish a paper.
They had some ideas; fine, share them around. The issue was that at PROC the Liberals said we should come out with recommendations from a government majority-led committee on a timeline that they decided. They were going to have their members ram that through at the committee. That was the problem. It was a problem of process.
I submit to the government that if it is serious about changing the rules of the House and not just throwing the House into disorder, it should get on with having an appropriate process and proceeding in an appropriate way. With the lack of good faith that is in place now because of the government's way of proceeding, the Liberals need to have all parties agree with any changes that they will make.