Public Safety Act 2002  The government has lost the essence of what was intended with Parliament by numerous time allocations, and it is not acceptable. There is a great democratic deficit here. People responding to the actions in the bill want more time. They want changes to be made and they want a chance to debate the bill in the House.

Public Safety Act 2002  We either agree or the government uses the hammer. This is the 83rd time it has brought in time allocation or closure and it has been supported ably by the member for LaSalle—Émard every single time that it comes up for a vote. He is now going to supposedly address the democratic deficit in his own parallel universe tonight at the caucus meeting.

Committees of the House  The government has ignored its report for years and now we have another report and the government is not taking any action yet is willing to do something as horrendous as invoking time allocation, or the possibility of time allocation, on other reports or issues. It is not acceptable that excellent reports and work is done to address the issues and the government ignores the reports.

Canada Elections Act  It is time allocation with the time allocation being forever, at least as they see it. That is what they have moved to the bill to amend electoral laws. They do not want it to go to committee. They do not want the debate.

Parliamentary Reform  We wanted, and we still do want, the Standing Orders to be amended to give the Speaker authority to determine whether there has been reasonable opportunity for debate before a motion of time allocation or closure is heard. We still think that the Speaker should have the authority to protect Parliament and a minority point of view in Parliament from being abused in a time-allocated way by the majority.

Canada Elections Act  We barely had this bill back in the House from committee for less than three hours of debate and the government House leader was standing in his place moving time allocation on this bill and closing down the debate. What could possibly be the emergency that would require the closing down of debate in less than three hours? That averages out at less than half a minute of speaking time for every member of this place.

Canada Elections Act  Just before I do that, it is incumbent upon me to mention that the government has moved time allocation, which is the 84th or 85th time that it has done that to us. The unusual situation in this case was that we had not even had three hours of debate in the House and the minister was on his feet moving time allocation on this bill.

Committee Business and Reinstatement of Government Bills  This is maybe the second time since I have been in Parliament that closure has actually been used. There has been a number of instances of time allocation. Time allocation is brought in by the British House with every bill. We are more British than the British. We do not use time allocation all the time. However there are times when the opposition wants to oppose a bill strenuously for some reason or other and that is not a bad idea.

Privilege  He used an extreme example that if the government time allocated every bill at every stage the Speaker might intervene. My interpretation of what the clerk said is that there exists a limit to what a majority government can do with respect to time allocation.

Aboriginal Affairs  The House leader of the hon. member's party and her own backbench MP filibustered the bill and now she is asking us whether we will time allocate to undo the filibustering of her colleague and then whether we will allow a free vote on having the time allocation motion, or something like that. Mr. Speaker, I am not sure you were able to follow it.

Supply  Any independent observer of our institution will know that. The British house has in its rule that every bill is time allocated to the end of the day when it is debated. It is debated that day and when the house shuts down at night, they vote on it and it is finished. Every bill is time allocated to one day.

An Act to amend the Criminal Code (cruelty to animals and firearms) and the Firearms Act  The first thing that needs to be said about the legislation is that at noon today the government decided we would have no more democratic debate on the bill and it brought in time allocation. It brought in time allocation I believe for the 76th time in the history of this government. It has used time allocation more than any previous government. The government may say that all Canadians are in favour of the bill but nothing could be further from the truth.

An Act to amend the Criminal Code (cruelty to animals and firearms) and the Firearms Act  I thank all hon. members for their interventions on this point. I will say that it is clear that the government House leader is not moving time allocation today, notwithstanding the notice that was given. He would have had to do so before now. Therefore, it is not going to happen today, which gives the Chair ample time, I hope, to review the matter and get back to the House with a ruling.

Tlicho Land Claims and Self-Government Act  The Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development has made this fact abundantly clear on numerous occasions. In the time allocated to me today, I would like to touch on just one of these benefits: strengthening economic development in aboriginal communities. This is an area of which I am deeply concerned. I am very proud to see our aboriginal peoples move forward and to see the Tlicho people, as well as the aboriginal people that I represent, starting to do so very well in economic development.

Points of Order  Further on the same page it states: —the moving of the previous question would prevent Members from proposing amendments and considering the legislation to the fullest extent possible. In this case, the motion in question was a time allocation motion, and my colleague from Winnipeg Centre had the floor. The committee chair ignored this procedure, this Standing Order, and allowed the previous question to be moved. We challenged this decision by the chair.