Mr. Speaker, I would gladly yield to a Liberal colleague answering my friend's question. None rose to their feet, so I will do my best to fill in.
I know for a fact that there are no programs that give British Columbians their fair share, even though they contribute more than their fair share in terms of revenue to the federal government. The same applies to my home province of Alberta. I think that is why people in the west in particular, but in all regions of the country, find good reasons to feel alienated from the federal government and from central Canada.
My friend touched on the important issue of the government's lack of respect for democracy. We saw that in the water debate and again more recently. On many occasions in this place we have seen the Liberal government whip its majority into place to vote against a particular bill. We must remember that the Liberal Party has 101 seats of the 103 seats in Ontario, or at least most of them. There are only two provinces in the whole country in which is has majorities.
I wonder if one of the big reasons people feel alienated is that they do not see Liberal backbenchers standing up and representing points of view that are held strongly across the rest of the country. Would my friend care to comment on that and on the whole idea of the democratic institution of parliament being fundamentally broken and not working well to reflect the interests of the rest of the country?