Madam Speaker, it is a pleasure for me to address the Group No. 3 amendments to Bill C-2, the Canada elections bill. I say it is a pleasure for me because with the enactment of yet another example of time allocation by the government, very few of my colleagues will get the opportunity to address this important piece of legislation. So it is a pleasure and a privilege as it always is to speak in the House, but particularly in this case when the government has enacted time allocation and once again has shut down or severely limited debate on legislation.
I note at the outset of my remarks that this is the 63rd time that time allocation has been used by the government. That is an even worse record, a milestone achieved much more quickly, than that of the Tories in a previous parliament. The reality is that in the 33rd Parliament which commenced on November 5, 1984, the Tories reached their 50th use of time restriction on September 15, 1992, a period of approximately eight years. The 35th Parliament was the first parliament of the mandate of the Liberals and commenced on January 17, 1994. The government reached its 50th use of time restriction on March 23, 1999, almost a year ago, which is a period of just over five years. That gives the viewing public some idea of the comparison.
When the Liberals were in opposition during the two terms of the Mulroney Conservatives, they would rant and rail against the use of time allocation and closure to shut down debate on important legislation. Yet we find that it is business as usual now that the Liberals are in government. In fact it is worse under the present administration.
I notice, Madam Speaker, that you had quite time trying to read all the amendments in Group No. 3. There are some 35 amendments. That gives some indication to the viewing public and those in the House and the gallery of the need for improving the legislation. One must ask the question, if there is that much concern on the part of not just Reformers and the official opposition but all opposition parties as to the need to improve the legislation, why would the government move so quickly to shut down and limit the debate?
I am sure that tonight amendment after amendment will be voted down by the Liberal government majority. The Liberals will use the weight of their numbers to vote down all the amendments. Once again we will see that democracy does not exist in Canada and that the work of the House does not really take place.
In other words, the work that should be taking place in this Chamber does not take place here. Quite the contrary, for purely partisan political reasons good, worthwhile, well thought out amendments to this legislation will not receive the time they deserve for debate in the House. They will not receive a proper hearing before they are voted on by all members of parliament.
That brings me to the main thrust of my remarks. I want to talk about the golden opportunity that was presented to the government, to the Liberal Party of Canada, to dramatically improve the system with legislation such as the elections act. The Liberals were granted this opportunity when the citizens of this country elected them to govern the country. What we see is a dismal failure on the part of the government with Bill C-2.
I want to digress a bit and talk about my personal history. About 14 years ago I was a farmer in the Peace River country of northern British Columbia. I had farmed for quite a number of years on our family farm. Gradually over a period of time my one brother and I purchased the farm from my parents and we continued to expand it. We were farming about 3,000 acres. It was a fair size grain farm. We grew wheat, barley, canola, oats, all the grains. The Peace River country in both Alberta and British Columbia is noted for being the second largest region in North America for producing grass seed. We grew a lot of grass seed as well.
At that time I though that quite likely I would continue to farm for the remainder of my working life. I certainly had no real interest in politics other than to see good government in Canada. Yet 1986 was a watershed year for me. It was the second year of the first mandate of Brian Mulroney and the Progressive Conservative government. In 1984 the Tories were handed the most massive mandate up until that time in Canadian history. They came to power in Canada with the promise of cleaning up and changing the direction the Trudeau Liberals had charted for Canada.
There was actually widespread support across the nation but in particular in western Canada for the Progressive Conservatives. I was one of those who grew up supporting the Tories at the ballot box. I had hoped that we would see a major shift in the way that government was done. I was bitterly disappointed.
By 1986 the country was rocked by scandal after scandal. I can run down the list. I do not have enough time in a short 10 minute speech to explain them all but I am sure some of the viewing public will remember them. There was the Oerlikon land flip; there was what became known as tunagate; the Sinclair Stevens affair; a prison that was put into Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's riding that should have gone elsewhere. These things sound familiar. Scandal after scandal rocked the government at the time. It clearly showed to me, a farmer in northern British Columbia, that it was business as usual and that the government under the Conservatives was carrying right along with what the Liberals had done before.
I got angry, I got damn mad. I got involved in a fledgling political movement called the Reform association which in the fall of 1987 became the Reform Party of Canada. This brings me back full circle to the issue at hand today, Bill C-2, reform of the elections act. One of the main issues that prompted me to join the Reform Party was I saw that members of parliament did not adequately represent their constituents. That is what I saw with that massive majority and that is what I see with the government today.
Liberal members sitting across from us today are disciplined to the extent that they will stand up tonight, and it will just be the latest example of this, and they will vote down amendment after amendment purely because their party and their leader tell them that is what they should do. It is not because it is the best thing for their constituents or because it is the best thing for Canada. It is strictly because of partisan politics in Canada that this is what will happen. That is exactly what has been happening for years and years and years regardless of whether it is a Conservative government or a Liberal government.
One of the things I wanted to see changed was to have MPs truly represent the interests of their constituents. One of the ways that can happen is if a government institutes a system of real free votes in this place, where MPs actually have the freedom to vote in the best interests of their constituents. The reality is that it just does not happen under the old party system. The problem is that the old parties like the system just the way it is and they are not about to change it.
Canadians ask me, and I am sure they ask MPs from all the parties, “What would you do differently? If we elect you, how can we trust you? What will you do differently?”
One of the things that is different and refreshing about the Reform Party of Canada is that in our policies and principles we state how we would change the way that elections are conducted. There would be fixed election dates, the use of referenda, the use of recall, the use of citizens initiatives, giving the power back to the people.
The government had the opportunity to do that, to bring about changes like that with Bill C-2, and it chose not to. Shame on it.