Mr. Speaker, I too would like to say how much I value being able to speak to the private member's bill introduced by my colleague from Kindersley-Lloydminster on an important point of public policy.
As you know, Mr. Speaker, and as Canadians who are watching this debate will know, private members are able under our rules to introduce bills and motions to put forward items of public policy which are not being dealt with by the government of the day.
This whole area of further democratization of our democratic institutions is one in which the Liberals, as typical of them, made a big fuss before the election. They put forward all kinds of nice sounding proposals for democratizing the system, but when they were actually in charge, they suddenly got cold feet and have done little or nothing to move in the direction for which they so ardently argued before the election.
I would like to assure Canadians that the Reform policies have been to democratize the institutions of government and voting procedures. Since its inception we have been committed to those and have drafted legislation already to bring that about. We will be introducing that as soon as we become the government. This is one of the bills which we will be introducing.
A number of arguments have been put forward for and against the whole idea of fixed election dates. I would like to discuss in the few minutes I have the arguments against or the disadvantages which are cited by opponents of fixed election dates. I will just go through with Canadians some of the reasons why we do not find those arguments at all persuasive.
The Liberal member opposite who spoke earlier in this debate this evening suggested that the Lortie commission, a very comprehensive commission on electoral reform which reported recently, did not support fixed elections. In fact that is not the case.
In the summary of the commission it was stated: "The argument for holding federal elections on a fixed date was mainly that it would make it easier to administer and organize elections as well as provide for better enumeration. One or two interveners suggested that the fixed date was also more democratic because it removed the ability of the party in power to call an election at the most favourable time".
The report did not deal with the issue of fixed election dates except to observe that it had come up and there were arguments for and against. By citing some of the arguments that were brought forward to the commission against fixed election dates and suggesting that it was the conclusion of the commission is misleading. I wanted to put on the record that the Lortie commission did not come out either for or against fixed election dates.
About eight main arguments have been advanced against fixed term elections. These were mostly put forward in a document which was put together by Eugene Forsey and another individual. It is a well written and interesting document with a lot of humour in it, but the conclusions are flawed. I would like to tell the House why.
Four arguments of those eight dealt with a situation where the argument was that fixed election dates would preclude a non-confidence motion which might dissolve the government earlier. Of course for those who have been following this debate they will know that my colleague's bill continues to allow for the contingency of the House adopting a non-confidence motion and also allows the House, by the way, to continue sitting past the fixed election date in case of war, invasion or insurrection as is allowed for in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The arguments which would suggest that the members of the House would not be able to cause the dissolution of the government for a lack of confidence in the government are not valid. They are clearly dealt with in my colleague's bill.
There are four other arguments, however, that I would like to deal with quickly. One is that fixed election dates would make it harder than at present to get rid of an unpopular government between elections, partly I suppose, because of the presumption that there could not be a motion of non-confidence. I have just pointed out that is not true under this bill. Also, governments would not have quite the same pressure put on them because of the fixed election dates.
I would suggest that unpopular governments in our democracy can hang on even past the five-year period under the Constitution. The more unpopular a government is, the more tenaciously it clings to power and avoids calling a vote. I would think that fixed election dates would at least give us some certainty that we could boot the rascals out, rather than having to wait for them to finally do the noble thing and call an election at the last possible second.
The second argument is that there are circumstances where a government needs to or wants to be able to go to the people with an election on a major issue like free trade and if it somehow could not get the will of the people on a major issue, there would be an impasse.
I am very happy to say that I, personally, have solved that problem for the people who brought up this objection. I have tabled a private members' bill to amend the Referendum Act to permit questions to be put before the Canadian public at the initiative of any government or at the initiative of the people on major public issues. An election would not need to be called. Legislation has been tabled both by myself and also by my colleague from Vancouver North to allow referendums to be used. That argument falls by the wayside as well.
The third argument is that the calling of an election is an important and a legitimate tool for a government. The threat of dissolution allows governments to keep their members in line and the opposition off balance. If that is the best argument against fixed election dates that we can come up with, shame on us. In fact, in a democracy there should be no possible reason that the executive part of government can threaten their backbenchers with dissolution and keep them in line with those kind of threats and keep the opposition off balance.
It is very clear that governments have almost every advantage on their side. There is absolutely no reason to suppose that they would be penalized by not having this advantage.
The last reason is that there is a mistaken notion that governments are elected. Governments, in fact, are appointed. They are responsible to the House of Commons and elections are only about individuals who serve in the House of Commons. Out of those individuals, a government is appointed, presumably by the crown. That is total nonsense.
When people vote, they vote for the party that they wish to have govern. There is absolutely no presumption or expectation on the part of Canadians that they are going to elect x number of members. Somehow there is a big question about who is going to be the government. Every reason that I have seen against fixed election dates simply do not hold water. It is not even difficult to refute them. It is incredibly easy.
To end my remarks, I would like to quote from an article written last month by columnist Andrew Coyne in the Montreal Gazette . He said: ``Canada is one of the few democracies that still leaves it up to the government of the day to decide when elections should be called, a decision in which the government has an evident conflict of interest. Incumbency has advantage enough without forcing opposition parties to start the race off on one foot.
"The innocent might imagine an election to be the occasion for the people to choose a government. In Canada, the government chooses the people at the moment calculated to find them in the most forgiving mood. The only real change with fixed election dates would be to remove from the government the power it now possesses to trigger elections at whatever time is most advantageous to its own electoral prospects.
"This is hardly incompatible with parliamentary government. It is incompatible only with parliamentary dictatorship as we have known it in Canada".
I strongly urge members of the House to support this very sensible bill by my colleague from Kindersley-Lloydminster.