As much respect as I have for Mr. Bagnell and the rest of the members of this committee, I just can't believe this strategy is one that you think will sell if we in fact do have an election.
Today you were given the opportunity to do two things: bring this legislation up to date and send a message to the Senate that we're not going to let an undemocratic, irresponsible group dictate to us. You're forgoing both those possibilities. I can tell you that this is the message I'm going to be giving when I'm out on the hustings if we in fact have an early election.
Let's assume that we don't have an early election. The reality is that you could pass this and could have passed my first amendment, which would have been to update the whole legislation. You both have indicated repeatedly, and I'm referring to the government side and the official opposition, that you're generally in support.
If we don't have an election, there would be time. Maybe we again could have the government and all the opposition parties saying to the Senate that we're the democratically elected body in this government, that we're the ones who make the decisions. Are they going to turn us down a third time? If they are, then maybe it's finally time we get enough backbone to abolish them.
That's the message we need to send. We're not doing that by caving in to them.