It is the pot calling the kettle black. That is exactly what it is.
I think that what has been said here has not been thoroughly researched. But we all know, of course, that Reform Party research is an oxymoron. One can never be equivalent to the other. They are diametrically opposed.
We have heard again from the same member that we should be leading by example. Now, I ask myself the following question. Is this the same political party that is asking us to lead by example when the leader of that party had a limousine provided to him by the government and he said he did not want the limousine, then reconsidered the position? He ordered the limousine and had the staff of public works, or whoever does these things, wax the car and bring it here. It took a day or two of work to get it all prepared. Then he did a giant publicity stunt with the car, which had already been sent back. He made a presentation of giving the keys back and put a "for sale" sign in the window of the car. It probably cost thousands of dollars at the expense of the government to orchestrate that scene.
Now, as if that was not bad enough, someone said that the ultimate result was that he got rid of the car. That is what you think. No siree, Mr. Speaker. He had a limousine subsidized by the taxpayers through the back door of the Reform Party provided to him after refusing the first limousine in the publicity stunt I have just described.
Those are the people who talk to us about leading by example and governing with integrity. Yes, those are the same people.
Let us talk a bit more about governing with integrity. Let us talk about what I would qualify as suitable leadership. Yes, the leader of the Reform Party decided that he wanted a 15 per cent pay cut, but he had his suits bought by the Reform Party in order to supplement his income. That is leading by example. Mr. Speaker, do your constituents or do my constituents receive subsidized suits? Hardly. If they did they would probably be a taxable benefit. I wonder if it is a taxable benefit for the member of the Reform Party. Perhaps some of our colleagues in the House who are accountants can enlighten us on that subject.
Let us develop that a bit further. The leader of the Reform Party, from what we were told, is also receiving, thanks to the taxpayers of Canada, contributions to his RRSP and all sorts of other things like that. If that is not bad enough, some Reform Party members said they were taking a 15 per cent pay cut. I know their performance has not been all that great, but to say that it was only 85 per cent as valuable as everyone else's, not even I would go that far. Let us assume that they were worth the same amount as other MPs, which I know is a debatable point.
We had the following situation. Some of them did this and some of them did not. And then the whole thing was reversed because, as they said in a press interview, the people were not appreciating it sufficiently. They did not change their minds because it was wrong or right, but because they did not get the right amount of publicity.