Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I just want to remind you that the order that the House adopted was very specific. It states:
That, notwithstanding any Standing Order, special order, or usual practice of the House, at 4:00 p.m. on Monday, December 16, 2024, the Speaker shall interrupt the proceedings to permit the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance to make a statement followed by a period of up to 10 minutes for questions and comments; after the statement, a Member from each recognized opposition party, and a Member of the Green Party, may reply for a period approximately equivalent to the time taken by the Minister's statement....
A minister of the Crown just came in and made a statement. Her statement was that she was tabling the fall economic update. That is the statement. At the very least, there should now be a 10-minute period of questions and comments. The government House leader chose to have a very short statement. There is nothing we can do about that. She came in, tabled it and then ran out before there could be any accountability or scrutiny.
I believe the most logical thing for the Chair to do would be to accept that as the statement that it was, which I would say is a perfect statement on the state of the Liberal government right now, and, at the very least, allow opposition parties and opposition members to ask questions of the government as to what was in the fall economic update.