Madam Speaker, this is probably one of the saddest days in terms of our parliamentary system and the state of democracy in our country. If we listened carefully we could actually hear jackboots slamming around this place.
I will set aside the government for the moment. I want to talk to my friends in the Reform Party and beg them to come to their parliamentary and democratic senses this afternoon. I know my friend has spent a lot of time as a schoolteacher. He has seen many kids who get angry because they do not get their way. They say “I am going to pick up my marbles and go home. I am not going to play”.
Reformers are saying that because they do not like what the government is doing in terms of its willingness to take a committee out to British Columbia. They will shut down the democratic process in this place for the finance committee and perhaps all others.
These are people who say they believe in the democratic process. They believe in grassroots democracy. They believe in a situation where British Columbians and other Canadians should have a fair shot at policy and legislation that are being developed. They are thwarting or stopping the finance committee from travelling across the country and hearing men and women from one coast to another. That is what the Reform Party is doing. My friends in the Reform Party astonish me because it goes against everything I have ever heard every one of them speak about.
Let us be fair. When Reformers say they believe in grassroots democracy we laud them. Of course it is what we all want to see. I have been on the finance committee for many years. The best times I have spent as a parliamentarian is when we go to St. John's, Newfoundland, Halifax, Saint John, Fredericton, Regina, Saskatoon, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Victoria to listen to Canadians.
Does the government always follow their advice? I would say it does not always but it listens to Canadians. Canadians have a chance to make their views known. People from my community in Kamloops venture down to talk and express their views. They want to see some action on one front and some changes on another. They want the government to acknowledge these problems.
My colleagues in the Reform Party, for some stupid, idiotic and undemocratic reason today are saying that because they are mad at the government they will not let the finance committee travel. That is a travesty of democracy.