Mr. Speaker, we just heard a remark from someone who I think had better brush up on the rules. Whether a bill is introduced in one House or the other, they are of course debated in both Houses.
It is also a reversal of policy for the Reform Party. I invite hon. members, especially him, to pay attention because in the last parliament and in all parliaments we have had Senate public bills debated in the House.
In the last parliament government Bill S-2 respecting a tax convention, which was very similar to one of the bills presently before the Senate, was passed without any recorded division. In other words members of the Reform Party voted for it.
Today they issued a press release saying that introducing bills is undemocratic, yet they have voted for what they considered to be undemocratic bills.
Government Bill S-9 respecting a tax treaty with the United States was also introduced. There were two divisions on that bill. There were two division bells.
One was on an amendment proposed by a member on this side of the House. It is recorded at page 2020 of the Journals of October 17, 1995 that Reformers thought so highly of the Senate's legislative work they voted against the proposed amendment.
More important, this is against an amendment proposed by a member of the House and in favour of the version proposed by the other place.
As well, on page 2021 of the Journals for that day we see on the motion to concur in the Senate government bill that the Reform Party voted in favour of the bill, once again telling us that the procedure is quite correct.
In the last parliament Reformers were so comfortable with government bills being introduced in the Senate that they specifically voted on them when division bells were rung.
I draw the attention of the Speaker to the October 17, 1995 Journals at page 2022. In that division a number of Reform members voted for the bill: the hon. member for St. Albert, the hon. member for Kootenay—Columbia, the hon. member for Calgary—Nose Hill, the hon. member for Macleod, the hon. member for Cariboo—Chilcotin and a number of others.
All these members and a number of others from the Reform Party voted in favour of a division supporting a Senate bill and against an amendment made by a member of the House. They cannot today claim that the Senate procedure is illegitimate when they fought so valiantly in favour of it.
This is not a question of privilege. This is a concocted argument by the Reform Party in a desperate attempt to find some way of getting pubic attention.