Even if it's just a matter of 10 minutes in the evening, I have an opportunity to just say hello to my wife and see how things are, even if it's just as I get into my apartment at 11 o'clock at night.
I think we talked about this on the last trip, Mr. Chair, so I'll indulge you.
I'm a workaholic by nature. That's just what I do, whether it's this job or the previous jobs I've been in. It's just the way I'm wired. I don't sleep much at night. I'm in my office. Mr. Arnold can attest that he gets emails from me. My staff, who are listening in, get emails from me at all hours of the night. It's just who I am and the way I am. I'm in my office usually no later than seven o'clock, regardless of what time I got in. Usually it's actually quite a bit earlier than that. Usually I leave my office late in the evening because, again, when the House adjourns it's still business hours back in British Columbia. We find a way to adapt our schedule here.
While I appreciate the comments about being in the soccer fields, the baseball fields, and the grocery stores, the point I'm offering in this brief intervention is that I still manage to do that. I'm still a valuable member of our community. I think my community sees me.... Well, they see me every weekend. I'm still able to manage to celebrate successes, mourn the loss of family members, take in the events that matter the most, and still be present to hear our constituents.
The point I'm trying to make through this intervention is that we knew what we were getting into. We know there's a sacrifice. The greatest honour we have is serving our country. When I signed the book when we were sworn in, when I was given the pin, and knowing the volunteers who put in the hours to get me where I was, the sacrifices of those who came before us in these halls, and the honour to sit in the House with the 337 other members of Parliament....
There are always times we have a debate, argue, and heckle back and forth. It's always good-natured. I always tell people—and this might even be your quote, Mr. Badawey—that politics are for QP and elections. What people see on QP isn't really what happens all the time. We work very collegially and collaboratively behind the scenes.
Again, going back to what I was saying, it is a great honour to be a member of Parliament. We know that with honour comes sacrifice. It's our duty to do whatever we can to still manage to be the loudest voice of our constituents that we can, and represent them as truly and as a strongly as we can. Where do we do that? We do that here in Ottawa. That's what my constituents expect of me. They work Monday to Friday and they work 60 to 80 hours a week. It sends the wrong message if.... They still know that we travel. We still have to travel, but if we took a Friday off, I'm still travelling. I'd have to leave Thursday instead, which means I'm here for three days.
My intervention is obviously about me, but I'm just using that as an example about my travel schedule. It is a 12- to 15-hour day on top of what we put in when we're here. I'm not complaining. I love every single minute of what we do. Are there frustrating times? Absolutely. Is this part of it, where we...?
The strongest message that we as parliamentarians have given over the last while since we've been in here, honestly, is the votes on the private members' bills, and mine was one of them where we stood at 284; and what we did today—283, 284—when we stood together, and when we saw the backbench from the government stand up, vote their conscience, and vote what was right. It sent a message to Canadians. If we can do that more often, we don't need electoral reform. I'm telling you, we have the voice of our constituents. We're doing it.
Mr. Chair, you're signalling me to wrap up, so I'll keep it at that. My point with Mr. Badawey is that, as western MPs, we have that travel anyway. I knew exactly what I was going to be in for. I adjusted. I never let my personal life interfere with my business life, and when I'm not at work, I invest in my family.
It took me a long time to learn that. I'm not perfect, but I'm doing everything in my power to make sure that my family is part of this. I think we all need to do that. I think it sends the wrong message when we talk about Fridays and taking Fridays off.
I'll leave the rest of that to when I hopefully get a chance to speak. Respectfully, I just wanted to comment on that.