-but as the hon. member for Kingston and the Islands has just said so eloquently, I feel provoked into saying something about what the members have said. The last speaker made our country sound as though crime was rampant everywhere, that we have so much debt that this is the worst place that anyone would want to go to and has described such our great country of Canada.
Where he has said that apathy is rampant among voters, 80 per cent of Canadians vote compared to roughly half of that amount in the United States, that great bastion of recall in the few places where it exists. The member makes no apologies for making those kinds of statements to the House days after the United Nations has said that this is the best place in the world to live, not the worst. We are talking about this business of recall and how recall would, in the opinion of the member who has just spoken, increase the sense of belonging of Canadians. What I see is one party on the government side with representatives from all parts of the country. I say to hon. members that the party that is in government now represents all parts of the country and therefore represents the views of at least the majority, and hopefully even more than that, of Canadians. At least recent public opinion polls seem to suggest that.
On the other hand the members who have made disparaging remarks about everything from this parliamentary institution to the country as a whole are now saying: "Give us recall and Canadians will want to belong". There is something wrong with the argument. We have two opposition parties, each one of them being regional in nature, each one of them, may I respectfully suggest, not having what I consider-and I know this is a question of debate-the best interests of the country at heart.
They may argue that they have. As I say, it is a question of debate. Certainly in the case of one party they want to destroy the country as we know it. In the other case it is a little less clear.
Needless to say, both opposition parties, and in particular the one which is pushing for the recall, acknowledge or at least they should acknowledge that their view is a minority one at best. They claim that recall is the view of the majority but they are suggesting it from a minority standpoint where they are themselves situated. I have some difficulty in trying to follow the logic in their thinking.