Mr. Speaker, I think the point is well taken even if it is not technically a point of order. It is not factually correct in the sense that the government House leader was at the table. We have one cabinet minister whose job it is to bird-dog this debate. He better not leave in any case.
I say this with the greatest respect to the government House leader. I believe he is as troubled by what is happening on the other side of the House as anybody. He has been here for a while. I have always regarded him as somebody who has a great deal of respect for parliament. He has come up through the ranks over the years. I am sure he is not happy with what happened yesterday, not just for the trite political reasons that it is embarrassing to the government and he now has to go through all this hassle to get the motion that was passed unanimously overtaken by subsequent procedures of the House. I am sure he is unhappy with the fact that this situation could even have been created.
As I started to say before the point of order this morning, when the government needed members for its own purpose there were upwards of 40 members on this side of the House. As soon as they saw they were not needed any more, the place cleared out like it was on fire or something.
Here again we see the government not being willing to even maintain the same percentage of their caucuses that opposition members maintain in the House. If we have 10% or 15% of our caucus here and the government and all other caucuses were to do the same we would have quorum all the time. That would not require very many government members.
We all have committee responsibilities. People cannot hide behind committee responsibilities. We all have to take our share in committees. We all have the problem of having to be in more than one place at one time. It is difficult. I do not think the public appreciates the way the timetable works in the House. Members are supposed to be in the House of Commons, be in committee and be meeting with people. It is not always easy.
I see absolutely no reason the government could not maintain a semblance of the appearance that it is listening. It should have at least one cabinet minister in the House, if not two. I would recommend at least two and its share of quorum, which means over half.
Hopefully we would have more than quorum because in parliament members are supposed to be talking to each other. Even if we do not like what the other person is saying we can get up and argue. I often do not like what the hon. member from Calgary is saying, but I can get up to ask him a question. We can have some kind of exchange.
However what is happening is that we are all seeping away from this place. The collegiality that exists even in conflict in debate is disappearing from this place. People just come in here, do their thing and take off. This is not good for parliament and it is not good for the country.