Elizabeth May: Mr. Speaker, my friend, the hon. Minister of Foreign Affairs, seems to be mistaken. He seems to think that the official opposition is imposing these closures and taking pleasure in them. Clearly, it is, of course, the Conservative administration that is breaking all records. The reason that the process of speeding bills through and closing debate comes up in debate is that we are now in the half-hour period, during which, Mr. Speaker, you have reminded us, both the content of the legislation and the fact that we are once again being forced to abridge the debate to pass it quickly are relevant points to make.
For a smaller party, such as the Green Party, the Bloc, and for any independent members here, every time that bills are moved to time allocation, and this is the 73rd time, it guarantees that no one in our position will have a chance to speak in debate. This is a small matter for the rest of the House, but it matters consequentially to my constituents because they want to hear what I have to say about the cluster munitions bill. I worked very hard going before committee, without being a member of committee, to put forward multiple amendments that were rejected. We can do better as a country. We can do better and not be one of those countries that is dragged into the cluster munitions treaty with the weakest implementing legislation of any of our allies. We can do better.