They ended up deciding to put the name of the political party next to the candidate's name. Then they had the problem of deciding whether that person was really the candidate for the Liberal Party or the Progressive Conservatives. How would they know that the party wouldn't say, “Wait a minute. That guy can't run under our banner. That person's a nutbar.”
That's when they accidentally—and I do believe in the law of unintended consequences, because this is a big one—decided that the leader of the party must sign the nomination papers of every candidate. For the first time, they gave the political party structure supremacy in this place, with a big stick to discipline an MP who wasn't towing the line, and also to tell candidates what issues they could not mention, or they would find themselves replaced by another candidate because the leader's signature could be withdrawn.
So the power given to party leaders in the 1970s—and I think it was an accident—was all about helping voters know which candidate represented which party. Since that time, the power of organized political parties has taken off, and that's why we're around this table and will be until midnight. The decisions around how to resolve a conflict that sensible people could resolve with good will are in the hands of House leaders who, with all due respect to the individuals involved, are getting advice also from people who are looking at the next election instead of how to make this place work better.
So again, if you hear me say anything in this place around this table...and I know I'm not a member of the committee, and I'm grateful, very grateful for the leniency you are showing me, Mr. Chair. The reality of partisanship in Parliament and politics is that the more politics and partisanship we let in the door of the House of Commons, the less functional we are as a body. This is why I'm hoping that with the sensible voices here, like Todd, whose presentation I found to be extremely sensible and sincere, that all of us would rather talk about moving ahead on the Standing Orders, some of which certainly could use changing, and some we might not want to change. The sticking point is how do we, in fairness, come to decisions that are in the interests of Canadians and the Parliament of Canada without this being a zero sum game for political party backroom guys who are looking—