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The normal procedure still has to be observed, however, with the complicating factor here being that Bélanger is dying. He was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or ALS, last year, and his condition has rapidly deteriorated. Many of his colleagues in the House hoped to fast track the bill, in hopes he’d live long enough to see it become law. For that to happen, the Conservatives would have had to bench some of their speakers during the hour of time allocated for debate during the second reading of the bill to allow for a vote. Instead, they used up all of the time, effectively punting the bill until the fall. The Liberals attempted to get unanimous consent to continue the debate, but without support from the Conservatives, the motion failed.

This set the stage perfectly for each party’s particular brand of wounded histrionics: the Liberals were aghast that the Conservatives would not expedite procedure for the sake of a dying MP — as if the government has some obligation to yield to the wishes of terminally ill parliamentarians. The Conservatives were aghast that they were accused of delaying the bill in spite of a dying MP — as if they truly believed it was of critical importance that each speaker stand up and say nearly the same thing as the previous speaker, knowing that there would be further opportunities for debate before the bill is passed.

The Conservatives didn’t delay anything, really: they just used up allocated debate time, which is perfectly acceptable. At the same time, it was rather rich of the Conservatives — having discovered their newfound commitment to parliamentary procedure oh, six months ago — to suddenly profess an unyielding fidelity to the rules, and insist that the topic was so important that they needed to use the entirely of their allotted hour, but not important enough to extend the debate on a Friday afternoon.