Faster Removal of Foreign Criminals Act (Bill C-43)

Elizabeth May: Mr. Speaker, I regret that the minister who is defending a motion to end the debate in the House and move time allocation is not the minister who is the moving force to drive this to a time allocation.

I would like to pay a brief moment of tribute to the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration as the only minister I know of in the current cabinet who shows up for every debate on all of his bills and answers all the questions. It is quite extraordinary.

However, I do not believe it is in the interest of democracy to continue to limit debate and impose time allocation.

I briefly want to note these words of former Speaker John Fraser from 1989, which were cited in the Speaker’s ruling of December 12 last year in the House, “We are a parliamentary democracy, not a so-called executive democracy, nor a so-called administrative democracy”.

In a real parliamentary democracy, we have full debates. It is not delay; it is called democracy.