Madam Speaker, things are looking up a bit in this place. I could see it coming. In 1993 the Liberals had about a quarter of the section over here in addition to that whole side. In 1997 that was reduced significantly. There are a lot less Liberals. As long as their mentality and their way of thinking continue down that path, I cannot wait until the next election because they will be toast.
Canadian people are tired of the social engineering that is taking place in the House of Commons, the constant social engineering that has been in place since 1993 when the good old Liberals came back into power, something that has been the history of their party.
It always leads to their downfall. It only takes time. People finally wise up and realize the social engineering that has continued through their years of governance will never end until we get the right people in government who truly believe in democracy, who truly believe in the democratic voice of the common people throughout the land: the taxpayer, the guy and the gal who pack their lunches, work hard every day and pay taxes.
One of these days the country will wake up and be quite pleased because the people of the land will be the ones who will make a decision about what kind of society they want to live in instead of the governing body of this place.
The Liberals do not respect free votes or expect members of their caucus to represent their ridings because that is what they must do. They do not allow that. Is that democracy? The whip cracks and that is the way it will be. However one day society as a whole will have a voice in making a decision as to what kind of society we want to live in.
As for me, I choose the collective voice of the people over what that should be. I do not choose the voice of the government because it does not believe in the consultation process. Even though the Liberals talk it, they do not believe in it. They do not believe in the petition process.
My desk is full of responses to petitions. We let them collect and then we take them back to our offices, but the responses are simple. The petition is laid out on the table. The government takes it and it responds. Through all the gobbledegook that is in the long description of what took place in petition it is simply saying one sentence. It should reduce the response to one page, save taxpayers some money and save paper. The sentence should be simply: “Sorry, folks. We are the government. We know best”.
There were 2.5 million signatures tabled in the House of Commons by Priscilla de Villiers the first year I got here. It did not even sink in that 2.5 million people were asking for some very serious changes to the justice system. From the time of those tablings to today millions of more signatures have been tabled asking that something be done with young offenders, with the parole system and with the prison system to help protect society more.
They are tired of looking over their shoulders. They want to look to the future. Why should they be afraid of being in a school yard? They want to walk down the streets in city of Toronto or in the city of Calgary without fear. They kept tabling petitions, and what do they get from the Minister of Justice after all that time? Bill C-23.
That will not make a lot of petitioners happy. What a wonderful listening government: millions and millions of signatures mean nothing, but a little court decision regarding a situation will make the law. The government will listen more and more as the supreme court and other courts come out with rulings so it can make some more wise decisions based on the courts.
Never mind society. It wants to base it on the courts. The people of Canada are tired of the courts deciding what kind of society they want to live in. They are certainly tired of this place deciding what kind of society they should live in. They truly want a voice.
The Liberals should up the good work because after the next election they will be toast. They are not listening to the people of the land. They will have a voice. There will be a day that they take control of this place, take it back from the arrogance and the obnoxious methods being used to run their lives in a social engineering fashion. I can hardly wait for that day. I sure hope I live long enough to see it. I promise that day will happen.
The Liberals continually shut down debate in this place. Closure has been used 69 times now or 169 times. It does not matter. They just do it.