Mr. Speaker, I never thought I would say this, but the Liberals' strategy of avoiding talking about the budget is putting Machiavelli to shame. All morning, the Liberals have been talking about nothing but the budget, with just a slight mention of the amendment that they would like to vote on as quickly as possible.
I have two choices. One, I can respect the decorum in this House and talk about the motion at hand, which is what I think the Liberals should be doing. Two, I can use this opportunity to say that the Liberals' strategy may be another way to prevent the opposition from talking about the budget and from pointing out that the budget does nothing to close the growing gap between the rich and those who are struggling to make ends meet. The government is doing little to meet our greenhouse gas reduction targets. I could talk about this for 20 minutes.
My question is even simpler than that. Can we discuss the topic that was brought up this morning? Better yet, since there is broad consensus, unless the Liberals want to continue with their strategy, we should vote on this amendment, deal with this issue, and debate the budget, since I also have a lot to say about the budget.