Mr. Speaker, I thank my esteemed colleague for complimenting my French. I will try to live up to her compliment in my response.
I think that the very important principle at the heart of opposition days is that many members of Parliament who are not part of the government have important business in their ridings that they want to be able to discuss in the House of Commons. Opposition days exist for this reason, and there is a certain proportion of days allocated to government business and to opposition business. The government is not respecting this ratio when it extends the sitting hours of the House of Commons but limits those additional hours to just government business. The point of the amendment is to ensure that this proportion is maintained even when we are sitting extended hours.