—18 months ago, my friend Mr. Scott, our lead critic on this file, reminds me. Now, all of a sudden, there is a big problem with time, “Oh, we don't have time to consult. We can't go out travelling; we don't have time. We have to get this in place—the election is coming.”
Well, the government sets the agenda. They have the majority; they are the executive council. They decided to wait. Not only that: before they start screaming that the sky is falling in terms of time, I would remind my colleagues on the government benches that our motion calls for public hearings in Ottawa and across the country during the months of March and April. We're still in February; there's lots of time, if the government is truly interested in, at the very least, giving Canadians a say on their own election laws.
It's disgraceful that we even have to have this kind of debate. This is a democracy that's held up as an example around the world, and the government is making a mockery of it. I have said, as I'm sure many colleagues have too, for many years that if having a Canada were easy, everybody would have one. It's not easy. It's certainly not easy for the government. I've been in government in our largest province. I get it.
It's too bad, but it goes with the territory. Those who get to drive around in limos and have the big offices and all the big entourages—and I've been there too.... Those who get all those things also have the responsibility to treat Canadians with respect and to treat the power they have been given—even though they got it with less than 40% of the vote but got 100% of the power.... They have an obligation to use that power in the right way, in the interests of Canadians.
The government can say, “Well, our bill does that”. Fair enough; let's go out to the country and ask Canadians what they think. If we go out there and the arguments are overwhelming that the government is right, then we in the official opposition are going to have to sit back and ask where we are and wonder whether we need to revisit this thing. I have a sneaking suspicion that may not be the way it goes, but it could. We don't know.
And that is the point, Chair. This country is vast—the second-largest land mass in the world—and for those of us who, like most of my colleagues, have had a chance to travel from the far-flung corners of this great country, the one thing that comes at you is how many different pieces make up Canada. I don't mean just divisions by provinces and territories.
Chair, I have the greatest respect for you personally, sir, and I know your job, as I'm a committee chair too, and know that your only priority is the agenda and the rights of the members. That is pretty much your focus.
I understand that, sir. I understand that you'd very much like to see us get off process and get on to substance. I share that with you, sir. I say to you with all sincerity that the official opposition feels the same way. But, sir, there are certain fundamental principles that are worth fighting for, and this is one of them. We won't do anything that's against the rules. There will not be any kinds of circuses or gong shows. But what there will be is a concerted effort to do everything we can to force this government to at least give Canadians a say.
Here we are watching what's going on in Ukraine, a country, by the way, to which we sent the foreign affairs committee in 2012. Tens of thousands of dollars were spent to send Canadian MPs to Ukraine. Why? To study their democracy. That's wonderful. And as a Canadian, I feel really good that we did that, especially in light of the struggle that's going on there right now.
The vice-chair of this committee and I have been to Ukraine. I've done three election observation missions there. I was there in 2004 during the Orange Revolution when they thought they'd turned the corner, when they thought their national nightmare was over and that they finally had their country back. For those of us who have stood in Independence Square, in the midst of those celebrations in 2004, and seen the hope in the eyes of the parents, the young people, and the old people who understood what life was like before and knew what it could be in the future.... No one can go there and not come away from that kind of experience without being deeply moved.
Did Canada do the right thing by spending tens of thousands of dollars of Canadians' hard-earned money to go and study democracy in Ukraine? You bet. That was exactly what Canadians wanted us to be doing in terms of our international outreach. We are not the biggest military; we're not even one of the biggest. We're not the biggest economy; we're not even one of the biggest economies. But we are one of the countries with the biggest and best international reputation. At least we were until this government started fraying the edges of it.
Why did we go there? Was it just to give MPs a trip to Ukraine? No. We went there because Canada's voice on the international stage particularly when it comes to democracy, human rights, and the rule of law is respected. We are considered a leader. The fact that Canada sent that delegation over there, the fact that we consulted with the leadership and the people of Ukraine, and the fact that we came back and wrote a report that became part of the international dialogue, were all important.
When I see what's going on in Ukraine now, it makes my heart feel good to know that as Canadians we have done and continue to do every single thing we can to help the people of Ukraine get the kind of democracy that they see over here in Canada. It would probably break their hearts to realize that here we are struggling to get our people heard when they look at us as the gold medal.... It's Canada. It would shock them to find out that here we are having a debate, trying to force the government to take a bill that changes our election laws out into the country to give people their say.
You see, Chair, that's the kind of thing they're looking for in Ukraine. Democracy's not perfect. Canada's not perfect, but it sure can look that way when your own government is shooting at you.
By the way, I don't want to make too big a deal of this, but we really do need the leader of the third party to come out and clear up this matter and make it go away. It is too important to leave that out there. I'm hoping that's going to happen today. I really believe that every Canadian wants democracy in Ukraine and that we want to do everything we can to stay united. To leave out there the impression that we take it as anything less than one of the most serious things would just not be acceptable.
I don't believe that it meets the standard that the leader of the third party has for himself.
Having said that, Mr. Chair, just to end my thoughts on that is to say to you again that we share those at any time day or night as we go through that. I mean it, 24/7. I'm ready to respond to an outreach from the government to find a resolve, and I believe that parties of goodwill can sit down and that in 30 minutes we could find an agreement. Will it satisfy us in totality? I doubt it. Will it make the government happy that they have been forced out of the bubble at all? I doubt it, but therein lies the compromise. So that's where we are, and unless and until the government signals that there's a change, that's where we remain.
I thought I would just to refresh everybody's memory, Chair, to keep us all properly focused, because we wouldn't want to get off the point.