Mr. Speaker, it is clear that I wholeheartedly support the arguments made by the parliamentary leader of the Conservative Party. He referred to a very important precedent that led to the government's defeat in 1926. In my opinion, the arguments put forward by the government House leader are totally irrelevant and unfounded, especially since they are being applied to a situation where the government is trying its best to save its own skin in the House of Commons.
This government claims to have the confidence of the House, and yet all its actions, arguments and efforts aim to prevent the House from voting on any kind of confidence motion. When a government thinks and claims it has the confidence of the House, it does not need to create a diversion to prevent the House and its members from voting on a confidence motion. By its very actions, the current Liberal government is demonstrating that it knows it no longer has the confidence of the House of Commons.
I want to refer back to the two arguments put forth by the government House leader. I will speak in French so that everyone listening can clearly understand the arguments presented.
The government's first argument is that the House does not have the right to impose orders or anything else on a committee. This is totally absurd. Not only is there a precedent dating back to 1926, which led to the fall of the government, but we also did it recently. The House of Commons ordered a committee to proceed with the splitting of a bill into two parts. The House regularly asks committees to split a bill in two or three. Everyone knows this happens. Therefore, the House has all the necessary powers, and particularly the power to ask a committee to proceed with some very specific tasks. That was true in 1926, that was true last year, that was true yesterday and, following your ruling, I hope this will still be true tomorrow.
The second point is that this is no ordinary report. I will not present many arguments, but I will say one thing. This report was called and put on the order paper of the House a long time ago and nobody ever said anything. The government never claimed that someone,be it the Conservative Party or anyone else, had no right, in any way, to call this report. This was an ordinary report. All of a sudden, because it could put the government in jeopardy, they claim it is no longer an ordinary report.
The bottom line is that the House has the right to give orders to committees, and the Leader of the Opposition had every right to propose an amendment that was deemed in order and that amounts to a matter of confidence in this government.
People must understand that all these attempts made by the other side clearly show that the government itself knows that it no longer has the trust of the House of Commons, of Quebeckers and of Canadians. This is really what must be recognized. We have a right to deal with such a fundamental issue, in full compliance with the rules.
