Preserving Provincial Representation in the House of Commons Act  Madam Speaker, yes, it was over 100 times. Can members imagine it? A Conservative House leader, these great professors of democratic principles, did it over 100 times. Peter Van Loan introduced time allocation or closure measures that many times in the House of Commons. In fact, the chief government whip at the time wrote a manual of how to ensure that a parliamentary standing committee could be driven completely into the ditch.

Preserving Provincial Representation in the House of Commons Act  Madam Speaker, I hope our colleague was not asking you when you will represent Canadians, because I think not only that you represent very well the people of your great Quebec constituency, but also that you represent all Canadians when you sit in that chair. I cannot imagine my colleague would be casting that aspersion on you because that would be inappropriate.

Preserving Provincial Representation in the House of Commons Act  Madam Speaker, our colleague from Cowichan—Malahat—Langford reinforced the unfortunate circumstance at the joint committee looking at medical assistance in dying. I entirely associate myself with his view on the inability of those witnesses to be heard on an issue as important to Canadians and as sensitive as medical assistance in dying.

Preserving Provincial Representation in the House of Commons Act  Madam Speaker, I disagree with our colleague from Montcalm when he says that democracy happens in the streets. I do not share his pessimism. However, I appreciate the fact that he mentioned what happened last night. The repeated calls for votes showed a lack of respect for our colleagues who sit on House of Commons committees.

Preserving Provincial Representation in the House of Commons Act  Madam Speaker, far from wanting to silence the official opposition, we are actually trying to help the members have an opportunity to vote on this legislation. We are trying to help them out of the dead end they found themselves in last evening, as our friend for New Westminster—Burnaby pointed out, where they were using a series of absolutely ridiculous measures to ensure that the House was voting on which Conservative member would repeat a speech that was generated the previous time this legislation was brought before the House.

Preserving Provincial Representation in the House of Commons Act  Madam Speaker, I agree with my colleague from Thérèse-De Blainville that this bill deserves to be debated. That is precisely what we tried to do last night. However, we saw the official opposition, the Conservatives, move bogus motions to force 30‑minute bells and votes to ensure that there would be no debate, even though they said they wanted to have one.

Preserving Provincial Representation in the House of Commons Act  Madam Speaker, I want to thank our colleague for New Westminster—Burnaby for his comments and his question. As colleagues know, the member for New Westminster—Burnaby is a senior member of the House. He has served the Province of British Columbia and the citizens of New Westminster—Burnaby well for a long time.

Preserving Provincial Representation in the House of Commons Act  Madam Speaker, I think members will find it ironic that we are getting lectures on indignation in that Oscar-winning performance on the other side of the aisle. We should never underestimate our Conservative friends' ability to manufacture outrage and indignation, and talk about loyal opposition and democracy.

The Environment  Mr. Speaker, members will not be surprised to hear me thank my colleague for the outstanding work that she does. We are proud to be investing more than $25 million in this expansion project, which will help many municipalities in Montreal divert more organic materials. This will reduce our emissions by more than 13,000 tonnes a year and divert thousands of tonnes of organic waste.

Electoral Representation  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague for his continued interest in improving Canadian democracy. I would urge him to work with us to pass Bill C-14, which, as he correctly noted, is before the House of Commons now, to ensure that every province has the right representation in the electoral boundaries redistribution process under way.

Constitution Act, 1867  Madam Speaker, I thank our colleague for Calgary Shepard for his thoughtful presentation. I agree with much of what he said, particularly around the importance of effective representation. Also, regarding people participating in the electoral boundary redistribution process by making presentations, and community groups and municipal leaders taking advantage of public participation with the commissions, I agree with him on that.

Constitution Act, 1867  Madam Speaker, I thank my friend and colleague from Tobique—Mactaquac, that great New Brunswick constituency. Like him, I represent a rural part of our province of New Brunswick and I completely share his interest and his concern in terms of the importance of ensuring that smaller communities and rural communities are represented adequately.

Constitution Act, 1867  Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Rosemont—La Petite‑Patrie for his question. He is quite right. In the agreement that our government entered into with his party, the NDP, we agreed to maintain the 78 seats Quebec presently has in the House of Commons. That is exactly what this very targeted bill will do.

Constitution Act, 1867  Madam Speaker, my friend from Surrey—Newton has represented, in a very effective way, the people of Surrey and the people of British Columbia for many years. He raises an essential point that many of our colleagues from British Columbia have discussed with me and with our government: the importance of respecting the formula, as he noted, that adds additional seats to provinces like his, British Columba, and probably, ultimately, to the Surrey region.

Constitution Act, 1867  Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague from Calgary Shepard for his question. Obviously, I share the member's interest in how the application of these democratic principles has evolved as a result of various rulings by lower courts, courts of appeal and, ultimately, the Supreme Court of Canada.