Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to enter into the debate. I came here as a Reformer with a very high interest in reforming Parliament. The people of Elk Island, particularly the people in the west where I grew up and where I have lived all my life, gave a very strong message that Parliament had to be made to work in favour of the people who elected us.
I take a great deal of pleasure standing in support of the private member's bill put forward by my colleague. It is another way of holding the government accountable. It is another way of returning power to the people instead of vesting in their government between elections.
This is part of a larger problem as I see it. I am distressed by the fact that over and over we see the exercise of power by a very few people in Parliament. It has already been alluded to but I was particularly distressed this evening during the vote.
Parliamentary rules prevent me from talking about a vote that has been held so I will not break that rule, but I will simply comment on the fact that over and over we see members of the government voting on command. I can scarcely believe that on each and every issue there is always 100 per cent agreement with what the government whip says. If that is the case I am very surprised.
I would like to see true freedom in Parliament and an end to the manipulation that takes place by the Prime Minister and by ministers of the crown as they operate and as they run through a vote.
I would like to come to the issue we are dealing with this evening, the proposition that people should actually be able to plan ahead the time of a federal election being held.
I am new to the political world. I worked as an instructor at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. From the time of my nomination in 1992 until the election was finally called for the fall of 1993 I lived in uncertainty for some 16 or 17 months. I did not know whether I should tell my employer and my students that they would have the continuity of the instruction I was offering until the end of the semester or until the end of the year. I was unable to plan financially and unable to plan in terms of scheduling my career and my life.
I was very supportive at that time of the plank in Reform Party policy that elections should be held periodically at predetermined dates. I do not like the words fixed elections because there is an implication that the outcome of the election is predetermined rather than the date of the election. We need to distinguish between those words.
Why can we not say to the people that the government will govern in a democratic way by going to the people for that accountability session? I have heard parliamentarians refer to it as the ultimate accountability session. We go to the electors and ask whether on the basis of our record they will elect us again That is the strength of democracy. There is no reason in the world we cannot do that at predetermined dates with some regularity. The only exception would be if there were a time of real national emergency.
I have a great deal of support for democratizing Parliament, the House of Commons, this place where Canadians expect their aspirations to be reflected. Canadians expect to have their desires fulfilled in terms of the rules that are developed which control our lives and the way our money is spent.
These parliamentary reforms are absolutely necessary. The faster we can get on with them, the better. It is a shame that we go on and on, I was going to say from century to century, but we are not quite that old as a country yet. We keep moving along and there is hardly ever a mind for change, a change for betterment, a change for a more true democracy.
It is a matter of considerable urgency, particularly because of the issues that face us. We need to ensure that the electors of this country are given the opportunity to elect a fair and an honest government, a government that will represent their aspirations and will neither run behind them nor ahead of them.
We have large issues in this country, the debt, the national unity question, the whole matter of our justice system and its inability to respond to the needs of Canadians, yet we find in this Parliament, over and over again, a mechanism which does not permit true change to take place. The mechanism is lacking to actually balance the budget. All of these things tie together when we think of the way Parliament works.
It is my delight to stand to urge parliamentarians to exercise their right, as provided under the Canada Elections Act and the Parliament of Canada Act, that no one should be able to control their vote. When it comes time to vote on this bill, I hope they will vote right, not just as they are told. They should think about it individually and represent their constituents. The constituents elected us. They should do what is best for them, not what is best for one party. They should not simply be trying to prolong their time in power. It is not acceptable any longer for governments to be in power, lording it over the people, ignoring their wishes, going on an on and then trying to manipulate the vote by so carefully choosing the time when the election is to be held.
When the time comes to vote I am going to be watching to ensure that members other than Reformers will be voting according to what is right, according to the actual item of debate.
Let us support this bill not because it was introduced by a member of the Reform Party but because it is long overdue. It is a bill which is needed in order to improve our democratic systems.