Madam Speaker, the parliamentary secretary is conflating two issues.
Do I think this is a bad bill? Yes. Did I vote against it at second reading, and will I vote against it at third reading? Yes. Did I vote in favour of reasonable amendments from my friend from St. Albert—Edmonton that would have improved the bill? Yes. Does the government control the legislative calendar? Yes. Could the Liberals have not prorogued? Could they have scheduled debate on the bill in May and June? Yes.
Therefore, the fact that we are in this situation of created urgency is manufactured by decisions the government has made. This is the Liberals' own manufactured urgency, designed to limit considered debate on the bill. Yes, I think it is a bad bill, but I also think we could have been debating it in May and June. We could have been considering it earlier if they had not prorogued, and we could have allowed the justice committee to take the time that was necessary.
There were four meetings of witness testimony. Conservatives put forward motions to ask that we have five, that we have one more meeting, given the overwhelming concern in opposition. We had many briefs submitted by medical practitioners that were initially rejected because of some arbitrary timeline that was not even published. It was only after a motion from the member for St. Albert—Edmonton that those briefs were allowed to be translated and presented, but even at that point they were distributed long after the consideration of amendments had started.
This was an unreasonable process, manufactured by a government that wanted the bill to not have to undergo serious debate.