Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the member's question and the dilemma that freer votes can create in that respect.
What I am saying, and I am sure this is the member's experience, that issues will come along where the party line is quite clear and he is absolutely aware that his constituents on that particular issue want him to do something different than his party. In other words, I am not talking now about general support for his party. I am talking abut whether the public supports him standing up and voting in favour of some measure put forward by his party with which his constituents disagree.
We are suggesting that the free vote convention should be flexible enough to permit him to vote the way his constituents wish in that conflict situation and for him not to be subject to censor by his party or accused of being a radical or a dissident by the media. That would be my response.