Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order.
As the NDP finance critic, I have attended the lock-up, I have read the fall economic statement and I have gone to considerable lengths, along with my colleagues, to prepare the New Democrats' response to this. What I find patently unfair is that the government has chosen to release that document to the public at four o'clock. That document, a very thick book of policies, is now circulating, but there is no opportunity for any other opposition person to have a comment on that, whether Conservative, Bloc, New Democrat or Green, and that is patently unfair. In fact, I would say that it is undemocratic.
You cannot allow the government to present its case and then not allow opposition to present its case in return. That may be how autocracies work, but that is not how democracies work. Mr. Speaker, I would ask that you allow a specific member from each party to have up to 20 minutes so that we can have our comment on this document, as the Liberals have.
I find it, frankly, a little infuriating that the government has allowed its voice to be heard in this document, but stands in this House and says “no” to allowing any other party to have its say. That is not democratic.