Mr. Speaker, ridicule never killed anyone, we all know that. We are being told: "You may have an opinion, but you may not express it, you cannot voice it". This is what the member just said. What a beautiful country.
It makes for quite a dialogue. It is as if I said: "I have an opinion. What is it? I am not saying". Then someone else said: "Can we talk?" Then, I replied: "Yes, I have ideas, opinions, we can talk". And the other said: "Oh no, we cannot talk about that".
What an impressive, what a remarkable dialogue. It is all fine and well for you to come to Quebec a few days before referendum, to jump on junkets trips to Quebec. We know all about junkets. One hundred dollars from Vancouver to Montreal, but not work in the opposite direction. Tell me about junkets.
It is totally ludicrous to have an opinion and not be able to voice it. This is what freedom of opinion means, it seems. Without such freedom, what kind of country will this be? We have the right to have opinions, but not to voice them. Oh, really.
Secondly, concerning the Reform member who made a trip to Singapore, I stand by what I said, I will not apologize. He paid his own way, no problem. I would point out that, when there is a trip for a parliamentary association, some Reformers do go on the trip, but not too often, I must admit.
Paranoia can exist in politics. Reform members want to have very few contacts with their colleagues abroad. This kind of isolationism is a integral part of their political doctrine, but not of ours. We are not uncomfortable about being members of Canadian delegations and sharing Quebec's point of view in a very courteous manner with our Liberal friends.
As far as Reformers are concerned, when they have opinions, they cannot set them out in their political doctrine, so why would they need to meet others? I can understand that.