It was absolutely “no”; there was not one Conservative who agreed.
Mr. Speaker, even individuals who were saying yes until I posed the question flip-flopped on the issue, because I called their bluff.
It is not about their wanting more time to debate. No, it is about the leader of the Conservative Party and the Conservative Party House leadership team, who really feel compelled to do two things. The first is character assassination. It does not matter what one does or say; they want to focus on trying to make the Prime Minister look as though he were some sort of a corrupt individual, and we all know that is not true.
A few Conservatives are actually applauding that, because it is an actual tactic the Conservatives use: They have no problem attacking the character of an individual just for the sake of scoring some cheap political points. That is one of the things coming from the Conservative Party, and it is consistent.
The other thing is that the Conservatives really and truly go out of their way to prevent legislation from passing. However, the irony is that they are not only doing a disservice for Canadians; they are also not allowing the opportunity for the House to deliver on important things for Canadians, and that is really sad. We hear from the Conservative benches at times that they want good legislation passed, especially when we get into Private Members' Business.
We spoke to a wonderful piece of legislation this morning during Private Members' Business. I indicated that it is something we are very much open to, as we have actually supported other pieces of private members' legislation. If it is good for Canadians, we should recognize that and at least facilitate some sort of passage, but the Conservatives do not do that, because when it comes to critical government legislation, they really do not want it to pass.
Here is what is going to happen, and I can already see it. At the end of the week, the Conservatives will say, “Well, those Liberals are so bad because they cannot even have a legislative agenda that has them pass the legislation. They did not pass bail reform legislation.” The Conservatives are actually going to criticize us, yet they are the ones who are preventing it from passing.
At the end of the day, it is not like it takes a great effort to filibuster and prevent legislation from passing. We know that. I have said in the past that they can give me any public high school in Canada. I can identify some students from that high school, and with 12 of them I can prevent legislation from passing. That is a no-brainer; it is not that difficult.
The real challenge, however, is trying to be a little more creative. The Conservatives can still be an opposition party, but they should be creative.
Look at it this way. Members will remember back in June, the leader of the Conservative party did not have a seat in the House. Do members know what was really good? We were able to pass Bill C-5, an election platform from the Prime Minister and the government to build one Canadian economy to consider major projects in this country and how we can advance them and take down trade and labour barriers. I and many members spoke to the legislation. It was good legislation.
The Conservative Party, in June, without its leader's sitting in the House, concurred. We could not have passed that legislation if it had not been for the Conservatives, at least in part, and I would say that it is because they did not have their leader here that we were able to pass it.
That legislation took a great effort, just like the bail reform legislation. Compare the two: If we look at the number of meetings and discussions the Prime Minister had with the different premiers in bringing forward Bill C-5, what we see is that there was a consensus built. It was with more than just premiers; it was also with indigenous leaders, many other stakeholders, and indigenous governments.
Now let us take a look at the bail reform legislation. Even more extensive work was done on it. Not only was the Prime Minister making that commitment to Canadians, but the Minister of Justice and the Secretary of State for Combatting Crime also took on the file and advanced it. It took a great deal of time and effort to build the consensus that was built. Everyone, including law enforcement officers, provinces, territories, indigenous people and communities as a whole, seems to recognize the value of the bail reform legislation.
I would have thought it would have passed, but because the leader of the Conservative Party has made the decision with his House leadership team that they are not going to allow that legislation to pass, it is not going to, yet we all know it is what our constituents want.
I serve the residents of Winnipeg North first and foremost, and I believe they want bail reform legislation. The reason they do not have bail reform legislation is the behaviour of the Conservative Party of Canada; that is the roadblock. Whether it is the budget that provides tax relief for Canadians, or whether it is bail legislation or other pieces of legislation, like the hate legislation or legislation on strengthening our borders, the Conservative Party of Canada is the biggest roadblock we have.
I would challenge the Conservative Party to reflect on the actions it is taking. I would suggest that it is time the Conservatives start putting the interests of Canadians ahead of the interests of their own political party.
With that, I move:
That the question be now put.