That, in the opinion of the House, the government: (a) should not make a decision on the proposed takeover of Nexen by CNOOC without conducting thorough public consultations; (b) should immediately undertake transparent and accessible public hearings into the issue of foreign ownership in the Canadian energy sector with particular reference to the impact of state-owned enterprises; and (c) must respect its 2010 promise to clarify in legislation the concept of “net benefit” within the Investment Canada Act.
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Elizabeth May: Mr. Speaker, I rise on a point of order.
I had assumed that my hon. colleague and friend from Burnaby—New Westminster would object to the current content of the parliamentary secretary’s speech because it has no relevance to the issue before the House today, and this I believe is a proper point of order.
The Deputy Speaker: With regard to the point of order, the debate over relevance will go on forever in the House. As to what is relevant and what is not, this one certainly is close enough to the topic of the day to fall within the general scope of what is relevant.