Mr. Speaker, through his speech, I would think that my hon. colleague would probably agree with me that through the whole budget process here, the actions of the official opposition could at best be termed bizarre.
First there was the rare show of wisdom on the part of the leader of the official opposition. Upon the budget being delivered, with the ink barely dry on the budget, he stood and offered his support for the budget. He saw nothing in the budget that would bring this country to an election. I thought it was a rare show of wisdom.
Then, of course, there was first reading of the budget when the entire official opposition decided to phone in sick. When it was the turn of those members to stand and vote in the House of Commons, where were they? They were sitting on their hands. They did not want to engage in this. They decided to opt out of the job that Canadians have sent us to do here in the House of Commons.
Then, of course, came the bump in the polls. The official opposition experienced a little bit of a spike. I know it is a young party, but in those members' post-pubescent glee they thought that Canadians were overwhelmingly driven and wanting an election. I think that has been replaced by the “what the hell were we thinking” phase. I nearly forgot about the “I am going to hold my breath until I turn blue” phase, when they did not show up in committee. They would not do their parliamentary duties. They tied this place up for a week. We were sent to Ottawa to do this duty, but they opted out on that one.
Here is my question for my colleague. Looking at the situation that the members from Newfoundland and Labrador find themselves in and the call from Danny Williams to stand to support this budget, does he think this is yet another ploy to mask the true intentions of the official opposition?