Mr. Speaker, I too listened closely and with a great deal of interest to the speech given by our colleague from Vancouver Quadra who is an expert in constitutional matters.
The Senate is, by definition, the chamber which represents the interests of the provinces. Now is not the time to debate how well it actually does this job, but the fact remains that this is one of its many duties, namely to counterbalance the representation by population in the House of Commons.
In light of these considerations, does the hon. member not consider it highly unusual, as I do, that a party which claims to have provincial interests at heart all of a sudden attempts in this federal chamber to abolish a mechanism which belongs to the provinces, without even bothering to consult them, and what is more, attempts to do so by cutting this institution's budget? Does he not find this the least bit odd? I do. The member opposite claims that Canadians do not really care all that much about the Senate.
If my colleague from Vancouver Quadra will recall the Charlottetown constitutional debate, he will remember that the Senate did indeed matter. Once the debate had begun, the people argued over whether their province should have one more senator, or one less. Would he not agree that the Senate seemed to matter then, that Canadians should at the very least be consulted before the Senate is abolished and that such a decision should not be made if that is not what the provinces or the Canadian people want?