Hon. Peter Van Loan: Mr. Speaker, an agreement could not be reached under the provisions of Standing Orders 78(1) or 78(2) with respect to the third reading stage of Bill S-10, an act to implement the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
Under the provisions of Standing Order 78(3), I give notice that a minister of the Crown will propose at the next sitting a motion to allot a specific number of days or hours for the consideration and disposal of proceedings at the said stage.
Elizabeth May: Mr. Speaker, I rise on a question of privilege, at this point. When the hon. government House leader rises and tells the House that there have been attempts to consult all members to obtain unanimous consent, any reasonable person would conclude that by normal practice by now, which is normal practice, as a member of this House whose consent is usually requested for such unanimous consent motions, I would have been approached.
I have not been approached and I believe this misleads the House as to the extent of consultations. I have no idea whether what he said was true in relation to the official opposition or the Liberal Party, but it certainly was not the case regarding me.
I am more than open to talk to the government House leader any time about finding ways to move things forward. I was never consulted, Mr. Speaker.
Hon. Peter Van Loan: Mr. Speaker, I was quite clear in my comments that this reflected discussion among the parties on the given bill at this stage. Normally, when we do get to an agreement between the official parties that are recognized in this House of Commons, then we do canvass the independent members of the House. We never got to that stage, unfortunately, here because of the inability to get consent from the NDP.