Madam Speaker, in reply to the last point of order, I retract my statement about the child porn vote. I recognize the oversight that there were four Liberal members who had some courage and actually stood up and voted with the opposition on that motion. My apologies to those four members. Unfortunately we do not see enough of them break ranks and follow the lead of those four so that we can get those types of motions passed in this place.
In the minute or so I have remaining I point out to the hon. deputy whip of the government that when I started my intervention this afternoon, I did ask for unanimous consent to move forward and debate his minister's amendment. It was he himself who refused to allow me to voice my concerns about this amendment. It should not come as a surprise that therefore I elect to voice my concerns about the dictatorial manner in which this government operates.
There is ample evidence to suggest that voter turnout at the ballot box has declined in the last two elections from about 75%, which is the long term average, to about two-thirds. That is a dramatic drop in the number of Canadians who actually turn up to cast a ballot.
I would suggest that one of the very real reasons cynicism is running so deep in Canada today is because of autocratically run governments. The average voter sees no point in turning out to cast a ballot.