Thank you, Senator McCallum, for this important piece of legislation, which encompasses very important issues in this country. Of course, at the end of the day, they need to be debated in this place. However, they need to be debated in a spirit of confidence that this institution respects rules and procedures. At the end of the day, if we have difficulty with those rules and procedures, I think it makes it very difficult to arrive at strong conclusions that the public, stakeholders and Canadians across the country have faith in.

It also makes it difficult when we have trouble applying basic procedures in this place for various reasons but, more importantly, because they are not respected by the Speaker — i.e., the fact that I’m on debate.

Every senator on a motion on a bill has a right to be on debate. At the end of my time on debate, I have the right to put forward an amendment, and at the end of that amendment, you have the right to question the person putting forward the amendment. Of course, after that, the Speaker is obligated to ask the floor if there is further debate on the amendment before it. Once that element is concluded, then, of course, the Speaker can call for a question or we can call for question. If there is no willingness to go to question, you can adjourn it. That is how a democracy works in a credible way.

Until we start learning those rules and procedures and applying them from beginning to end in order to get credible results, this institution will continue to be maligned in the eyes of the Canadian public, and we all have an obligation to keep that in mind. I also want to inform the house that it is my procedural right at this moment, on debate, to adjourn the Senate.

Therefore, I move:

That the Senate do now adjourn.