What we intend to do between now and then is not to play chicken with the opposition. It's to govern and progress on our legislative agenda.

We're not looking to play chicken with the opposition. The Prime Minister has set a date, 30 days after Gomery reports, to call an election and I think that the Canadian people want to see those reports before going into an election. So any talk of making the government fall before then is irresponsible.

For Canadians to take part in the rescue efforts is an extremely significant show of support, and the prime minister chose to be there to send off the Canadians who are going to help in this very tragic situation.

The prime minister believes this issue is of critical importance to Canadians and the national interest,

[The government was] extremely productive, ... It was extremely productive not only in the House of Commons, legislatively, but in other aspects such as negotiations with provinces and agreements for equalizations and agreements with provinces for funding on health care, for cities, communities. So we're going to continue to work in the House and with provinces in order to continue to accomplish our commitments from the Speech from the Throne.

All I can say is that our objective going in is to make Parliament work. That is our one and only objective. That's why we were elected--to govern--and we will be approaching this legislative session, just like we did the one before, trying to make Parliament work.