Mr. Speaker, the motion adopted on December 11 states that “the Speaker shall interrupt the proceedings”. It does not say that the Speaker may interrupt the proceedings. We believe that you have an obligation to interrupt the orders of the day. The Liberals have nothing to say, even though the in camera status has been lifted. There are journalists outside the House right now disclosing the content of the economic update, while we are being told, in all seriousness, that we do not deserve to know what is in the update and that we will not have an opportunity to respond to it or to ask any questions on behalf of our constituents. Some pretty unparliamentary language comes to mind, quite frankly, and I will not resort to using it, but this makes no sense whatsoever. This government has no idea what it is doing.
This is a serious breach of parliamentary privilege. Members of the House deserve to have access to that content. If the government does not have the courage to stand up and present it, then it should table the document. I have colleagues who were at the in camera meeting who could respond to the content of the statement. We demand the right to respond and to uphold the rights of our constituents.