Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, my interpretation is not the same as that of the members across the way and that is why it is important that we recognize that we are not supposed to be debating this issue. You as the Speaker made a ruling. If the member for Sherwood Park—Fort Saskatchewan does not want to speak, I have a 20-minute speech in my hand and I am prepared to deliver it on this issue.

Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, I suspect that you do not have to take that last one under advisement. It is completely up to you, because I believe the member was trying to challenge the Chair. I do not think it would be appropriate for the member to challenge the Chair. Your ruling was very clear.

Foreign Affairs  Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 32(2) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the treaties entitled, “Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the State of Kuwait on Air Transport”, done at Kuwait City, Kuwait, on August 1, 2018; the “Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the Republic of Serbia on Air Transport”, done at Belgrade, Serbia, on May 21, 2018; and, finally, the “Agreement between the Government of Canada and the Government of the Republic of El Salvador on Air Transport”, done at Ottawa, on October 4, 2018.

Government Response to Petitions  Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36(8) I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the government's response to 21 petitions.

Sikh Heritage Month Act  Mr. Speaker, on a point of order. I was not sure when you called quorum. I know that there are 20 or so Liberals here, but there were no Conservatives on the benches at the time. Does that mean—

Points of Order  Mr. Speaker, earlier today I tabled the certificate of nomination for the Right Hon. David Johnston to the position of debates commissioner. I misspoke and presented it pursuant to Standing Order 111.1 and it should have been pursuant to Standing Order 110(2). As such, I would ask that the record be corrected to reflect the correct standing order.

Elections Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, the legislation provides a wonderful opportunity to modernize the Canada Elections Act. We have seen significant amendments. Elections Canada had well over 100 recommendations and more than 80% of them have been incorporated in the legislation. We have made many changes to reverse what Stephen Harper did when he was the prime minister, when he took away things like the voter information card.

Elections Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, at the very start I recognize that the NDP members had a series of amendments they were proposing at the committee stage, and they were not alone. There were also many more amendments from the Conservative Party. As well, there were many suggestions and recommendations from the presenters, including Elections Canada.

Elections Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, maybe I could illustrate the difference between Stephen Harper's approach and this government's approach to changing election laws. When it came time for the Conservatives to change the election laws, they did not have the support of the Liberals, the Green Party or the New Democratic Party, and they were very offensive with respect to Elections Canada.

Business of the House  Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, there have been discussions among the parties, and I would like to move two motions, which hopefully will have unanimous support. First, I move: That, notwithstanding any Standing Order or usual practice of the House, the deferred recorded division on motion M-161, standing in the name of the Member for Saint John—Rothesay and on motion M-155, standing in the name of the Member for Scarborough Centre, scheduled to take place Wednesday, October 31, 2018, immediately before the time provided for Private Members' Business, pursuant to Standing Order 93(1), shall be deferred anew until later today, immediately before the time provided for Private Members' Business.

Committees of the House  Mr. Speaker, the second motion is in relation to the ethics committee, or ETHI. I move: That, in relation to its study on Breach of Personal Information Involving Cambridge Analytica and Facebook, three members of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics be authorized to travel to London, United Kingdom, in the Fall of 2018, and that the necessary staff accompany the committee.

Elections Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, a very good story is that we have a government that is actually listening and responding to what Canadians in all regions of our country want, namely modernization of the Canada Elections Act, changing many aspects of the unfair elections act that Stephen Harper brought in.

Elections Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, what the member fails to tell people is that at times it is necessary to use the tools to get legislation through, because sometimes we get opposition parties that will, at all costs, prevent legislation from passing. The member across the way has to explain why his party would be prepared, which is what we are hearing from New Democrats today, to never see this proposed legislation pass, because that is what the Conservative Party wants.

Elections Modernization Act  Mr. Speaker, I will not reflect on the individual who posed the question personally, but I will address what he just said as directly as I can. The Conservative Party, under Stephen Harper, brought in legislation that had no support from other political parties, and when brought to committee stage, the Conservatives did not listen to any opposition, not only from opposition members but from other stakeholders, including Elections Canada, in making the changes they made.

Elections Modernization Act  Madam Speaker, a good way to start is with something I put in the form of a question earlier today. The Government of Canada has wide support for many of the initiatives in this legislation, whether from New Democratic members, the leader of the Green Party or Elections Canada. We have listened to what Canadians have had to say on the importance of our electoral system in every region of our country.