Madam Speaker, I learned a long time ago that there is a difference when a Liberal talks about principles and when a Liberal puts something into action and into effect. Sometimes there is a long distance between the two.
I remember my grandfather telling me many years ago about the Liberal Party promising medicare in the campaign of 1919. I did not see medicare in this country until about 1965 after it was brought in by a CCF government in the province of Saskatchewan. There is a long distance between the principles of the Liberal Party and the action of the Liberal Party.
I remember very well the Liberal Party campaigning in this House against the GST. Does anyone else remember that? I was here. I saw the Liberals filibuster on the GST in the House of Commons. They spoke in committee hour after hour, “If we are elected to government in this country, we will abolish the GST. We will get rid of the GST”. About the only one who stood by her word was the Minister of Canadian Heritage who resigned her seat and ran in a byelection because of her commitment on the GST. I remember those debates.
I remember my friend from Prince Edward Island when he was the national president of the farmers union based in Saskatoon. I remember going out to his retirement and cheering him on as a good progressive left-wing thinker. Part of the reason was that he campaigned against the free trade deal. He was campaigning against NAFTA.
His Liberal Party was campaigning against NAFTA and the free trade deal. The Liberals were sitting in these benches calling Brian Mulroney a sell-out. They were elected and what happened? We are still part of the FTA. We are still part of NAFTA. There have been no changes, no amendments, nothing. We are now talking about selling our water. We are now part of the WTO. That former Canadian nationalist, Sergio Marchi,—I can use his name now as he is at the WTO—was campaigning against those deals. What is he doing now? He wants to expand them more and more.
That is the Liberal Party. Madam Speaker, I am sure if you were not in the chair you would get up and agree with me, because that is the history of the Liberal Party. Liberals say one thing and they do something else.
When members of the Liberal Party campaign in the opposition, they campaign for the left and they sound like New Democrats. When they are in government they sound like Conservatives, except for the last few years when they have sounded like Reformers. The Reform Party has set the agenda for them.