I want to speak to Mr. Johns' comments.
Another thing that I take offence with, and I hear this all the time, is “backbenchers”. You know what? It's not a bad word. Sometimes the opposition uses it to try to embarrass or whatever, but here's my point. No, trust me; we hear it on our side: “Oh, you backbenchers, you're just following your whip. You're just following. You're nothing but sheep.”
Let me tell you something, because there's a story here. First of all, I'm proud to be where I am. I don't care what bench I'm on. I don't, because I will tell you something. I have more influence than most people actually think. I don't know if I said that right. I have more influence than most people believe.
I'm not going to say who, but I met with one of your colleagues about a situation with a constituent, a life or death situation. This person was very frustrated because the minister wasn't responding. It was horrible, the way that it was explained to me. I told him I would get him a sit-down meeting with the parliamentary secretary and we'd figure this thing out. The person thought about it, and said, “Wow, you would do that?” I said, “Absolutely.” He thought about it some more and he didn't take me up on the offer. He said he was going to go to the press instead. That's fine.
The point I'm trying to make is that 30 seconds that you're talking to the minister, I already know, I learned in my first two weeks in this House, that I don't go talk to the minister for 30 seconds, because they're not even listening. They have so many things going on. You have to figure out who their people are, and then you start to make those relationships.
Let me finish. What frustrates me is that we are on the same plane at times. We can have that relationship. I can make those connections for you, because if you want influence on the other side, you do that through the backbenchers. That's the opportunity, right? We look at the ministers and we put them on this pedestal as though they're going to solve the problem, when it's really the influence that we can bring to the table by how we work together, because that's how I work.
I have tried to reach out many times. If somebody needs something, I don't care who they are. Even though I'm a Liberal, I believe myself to be non-partisan. If you had a problem, I guarantee that if you came to me, I'd figure out a way that you would get time to sit down with the minister, if it was that important to you.