Mr. Chair, I won't dwell on this at length, but I just have to say how profoundly offended I am by the literally unbelievable assertions that have been made by my colleague, who I'm sure, upon reflection, will regret that he has said what he has said.
His accusation, if we are to take it seriously, is that the government is seeking to systematically, on the basis of age, race, income level, and perhaps some other factors I couldn't keep track of, deny the vote to Canadians, an assertion that, if true, would mean that literally every member of the government, certainly every person sitting at this table, would be unfit to be in the public square, to serve in public office, frankly to participate in debate.
If that's what we did, if we were the systematic bigots who participated in deliberate, aggressive voter suppression, on that basis, we would be unfit for public life. I would be ashamed to be with anyone who actually acted that way. Frankly, if I were like that, people should be ashamed to be with me.
But of course this is complete fiction. If there were one iota of truth to it, in a country that is as sensitive as Canada and as Canadians are to this kind of grotesquerie, this kind of unacceptable attitude, there would be revolution out there. But there is no revolution out there at all.
Despite the histrionics of his party, indeed we see that on things like the vouching principle, a vast majority of Canadians support our position on this. They would not support, and they never have supported, any measure that hints at or smacks of in the slightest way any of the kind of racist, bigoted actions that he suggests are at the foundation of this government's approach.
Frankly, I'm a little bit ashamed to be sitting opposite him. I never thought I would say that, but listening to this, I'm actually genuinely offended.