Let me say first, Minister, that I'm very pleased we're dealing with this matter today. I find Bill C-19 and Bill C-20 very interesting, and I admire that your government is taking this on. You will know that in the history of my own party since the 1930s, one of the basic tenets of the CCF was to abolish the unelected Senate. That language is important. We reaffirmed that at our most recent convention in September 2006, to abolish the unelected Senate. I don't know what the opinion of my party would be if someone came up with a motion to abolish the Senate; I don't think it would be a view that is as widely held within the party.
I note that there have been 13 efforts to reform the Senate since 1900, all of which have crashed and burned after various periods of time. As a starting point, I think my party would have liked a nation-wide referendum on whether we want a Senate at all. In fact, we put an opposition day motion forward to that effect recently.
Has your government contemplated a consultation of that kind in the lead-up to this legislation?