That's not how we roll, as David Graham just said, and I agree. When he said “we”, he means we MPs collectively—Parliament. That's my point.
Through you, Chair, to David Graham, it's at that fundamental a level that we can have so much residual respect for each other that even in the middle of this we can show that same kind of common courtesy to each other and to an international visitor. It's because that's the way we roll. That's who we are. And that's why this is so egregious.
Mr. Chair, I think I'll give the indication that I will relinquish the floor prior to one o'clock. I just want to give whoever's going to succeed me a chance to be aware of that.
Will it be you, David? Okay. This gives you a chance to get your thoughts together.
So I will conclude well before one o'clock and immediately ask that my name be put back on the list—just a future threat. I could keep going, because I have to say that I feel pretty good, but others are anxious to get a piece of this. It's not like the last time, when I had to keep going on and on because you guys abandoned me. I was all alone. It was either me or nothing. I wasn't getting any help. Now we have a whole team, and my own team.
By the way, between us we have every single slot filled for the coming week and a half until the next constituency week. By the time the constituency week rolls around, we'll have a new roster ready to go and more new stuff. We'll have lots and lots of new stuff to stay relevant and not repeat.
As I bring to a conclusion these modest, short remarks, which I began yesterday at 4 p.m., I again underscore to the backbenchers on the government side—I don't expect a reaction—that if it were me, I'd be knocking on somebody's door wanting to know how the hell they were going to get us out of this mess. Right now there's nothing in sight except more of this. We're about to get a fresh voice and a fresh perspective, in this case from the government benches. How edifying that will be, not to mention the great opportunity that will be for the person who follows him.
Will that be Mr. Reid? I'm just curious. It is Mr. Reid? Okay. There you go: blockbuster day.
I'm ready to hand off to Mr. Graham, who I'm sure, in one fell swoop, with the eloquence that he can bring and the perceptions that he brings to his comments, will completely convince all of us—all of this—how wrong we are, how the government really is being wronged in this, how they're leading with their heart, and how this is about Parliament and efficiency and modernization. He will somehow make people forget about the electoral reform betrayal.
You can do it, David. I'm sure it's there. Nothing else....
Really, now that I think about it, that's what makes the most sense, that we're completely missing it. In a couple of minutes we'll find out all the secrets, starting with June 2 and its great importance—this is hard to do when you're laughing—or the avoidance of June 3, which for some reason has to be avoided by this Parliament. We'll find out how this will help the opposition and we just don't see it.
I'm sure that's what's coming next, Chair. We'll have a broader, more succinct explanation by a government member about how we have it all wrong, and about how The Globe and Mail have done such a terrible disservice to the integrity of the Liberal government, not to mention their former friend and ally, the Toronto Star, saying such obviously untrue things in such a nasty way before we get to the indignity that Mr. Coyne brought to your motivations. I have no doubt that before all is done, we will hear from others, but Mr. Graham can head that off at the pass by giving us all the explanation we need so that we lesser, mere mortals can understand parliamentary democracy as it's viewed from the lofty heights of the Trudeau Liberals, and that really all that's happening here is that we just don't understand.
Obviously the Liberal government is so far ahead in how it sees parliamentary democracy that what we need desperately, in addition to not hearing from me anymore, is to hear the great wisdom that Mr. Graham is going to bring as he pronounces on behalf of the government how we've all got this wrong, that it doesn't want to hurt anybody, that it wants to help. “We're from the government. We're here to help.” It's that favourite expression that people love to hear. “I'm here from the government, and I'm here to help.”
It almost makes me want to stop—almost.