Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the question. The member is being honest in his question. He honestly believes in what he is putting forward, which is unlike the Liberals. They do not honestly believe most of what they say. We know that. They come in the House with these canned speeches and read them off. Half the time they do not even know what they are saying.
This member asks an honest question and I will try to give him an honest answer. He talks about the fact that there are different regions in the country with different representation right now. I think we would all agree, perhaps everybody except the Prime Minister and a handful of his closest friends over there, that the Senate has no legitimacy whatsoever right now, none whatsoever.
It is nothing more than patronage heaven for good little Liberals who have done what the prime minister wanted them to do over a long period of time. It is like going to heaven for them. It is exactly like going to heaven. That is the only way I can describe it. It has no legitimacy whatsoever.
However it is precisely because of the regional concerns of Atlantic Canada, for example Nova Scotia or Prince Edward Island. It is precisely because of the concerns of provinces like British Columbia and Alberta that do not want to be overridden. If we could imagine a triple-E Senate being in place at the time the Liberal government implemented the national energy program in the late seventies, it probably would not have gone forward. We do not know because we do not have the benefit of seeing history repeat itself with changed circumstances. The reality is that if there were a triple-E Senate in place when that policy of the Liberals was put in place, it is very likely it would not have gone anywhere.
This is the type of example I can offer of why we should not abolish the Senate. Abolishing the Senate has an appeal to it. I agree we should get rid of it. We are not supposed to talk about the other place, but it represents the most despicable part of Canadian policies and nothing more. It could be much more. How will it get there? It will be when Canadians decide it is time.
We are coming to that point right now. Canadians are coming to the conclusion that we need fundamental changes to our democratic institutions. It is no accident that Reform sent 60 MPs here after the 1997 election. It is not just because people like the name. It is because they like the principles upon which the party is founded. One of the four pillars is democratic institutions being reformed.
I suggest to the member that if the NDP, the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party are not on that wavelength, if they will not tell Canadians that they are in the House of Commons to fight for democratic reform, at some point sooner of later, and I believe it is will be sooner, Canadians will give political parties that espouse changes the authority to make them in a general election. That is coming.
The member asks how. I ask him to stay tuned and he will see it happen.