Or in Windsor. People do not believe they are involved. They know they are left out of the circle.
Before I get into proof, who makes the decisions? Here and now, what we have in this great country is not a parliamentary democracy. We have it in name but in reality we have an elected dictatorship where every few years Canadians elect a dictator. That person then decides they know what is best for everyone else.
This really started with our old pal Brian Mulroney. He came in here and said “I'm really a bright person”. I just thought of a joke. We do not hear many jokes in this place. These can be told about Brian Mulroney but you can load almost anybody else in.
Brian Mulroney and the member for Halifax were being invited to a speaking engagement in Vancouver. At the airport in Ottawa there was a young fellow standing there feeling very dejected. Brian said “What's wrong with you?” The fellow said “I'm a Boy Scout and I am supposed to be at a jamboree in Vancouver. I missed my flight”. Brian said “Join us. We're heading for Vancouver”.
The plane took off and just about over Thunder Bay it got into real trouble. The pilot said “Folks, I have bad news. We're going down. We're going to crash. You have to jump out but there are only two parachutes. So you will have to fight it out between you”.
Brian Mulroney jumps up and says “Listen, I'm obviously the smartest guy in the world. I have to get down there and save this country”. So out he goes.
The Boy Scout says “Listen, Ms. McDonough, you're the head of one of the most progressive political parties in the country. You have great ideas. I think you should go”. She turns to the Boy Scout and says “No, we can both jump out. We can both take parachutes”.
The Boy Scout said “What about Mr. Mulroney? Didn't he jump out?” “Yes, but the smartest guy in Canada grabbed your pack sack”.
Brian Mulroney started the trend to make this place somewhat irrelevant. I do not think he liked parliament. He found it a nuisance and so on but he had to go through the motions. They used closure, time allocation and so on to get legislation through the House.
Then the Liberals came in. I was hopeful. I thought they have a much longer tradition of parliament, particularly with the leadership of the cabinet, and they would use closure less often. Lo and behold, they use it more often.