Yes, they were challenging members of the House of Commons to fight. That was reminiscent of a new way of doing things, of saying one thing and doing another.
In simple terms, there has been a reality check that has taken place. I hope Canadians are paying attention because I think we sometimes fool ourselves. We think Canadians are watching this place with a close eye. I would suggest it is becoming more and more of a jaded eye because of this type of, dare I say, hypocrisy. The Greek god, Hippocrates, would be looking down on us right now with a very wry smile.
When we arrive in this place we learn in very short order that this is an onerous task and a heavy responsibility. We have to choose our words carefully and we have to be prepared to stand by them. I think the next election is going to be very much about truth and about restoring some semblance of faith and belief that Canadians might have in their elected officials again. This exercise is certainly not going to help that task.
When it is all over, when it is all said and done, if we are prepared to say something to get elected, we had better be prepared to follow through with it. We had better be prepared to stand by those words. The inflamed passions that we see here today are only the beginning of what may be a very rigorous campaign that is potentially going to take place this fall. The spears being used to lampoon one another here may be repeated out on the hustings.
Canadians deserve to know where we stand. They deserve to be able to check up after the fact to see if we have followed through on it. I sincerely hope that members of parliament, particularly members of the reform party, can go back and look their constituents in the eye and say that, yes, they have followed through with their promise in this regard because they chose to make it an issue. They did make it an issue. There is no doubt about that. Pages and pages of Hansard have chronicled the commentary that has taken place in the House.
This bill is about fairness and, in principle, all Progressive Conservative members of the House of Commons support what this bill attempts to achieve, which is a fair and equitable system that brings parity in for all members of this place. What we do not accept is that this pension plan was used as a club with a nail in it to beat other members of parliament. We oppose the fact that the reform party is now very quick to embrace this same pension plan and gather it in.
However, that was then and this is now. What we have seen is that there are no more references to gold-plated pensions. That seems to have dissipated. The rancour has somehow died. The righteousness has disappeared somewhat. Well, lo and behold, all the reformers are accepting what they once rejected, embracing what they once despised, counting and caressing what they once so vehemently opposed.
Similarly, they cast aside this previous commitment to their constituents. In simple terms, that was then and this is now.
On that principle, although I accept the magnanimous remarks of the reform party House leader, it is a bit of bitter medicine to have to swallow. He has talked about changes. I think we can all agree that we want to see any sort of change that will be inclusive and recognize the value and worth of members of parliament in their efforts, their daily tasks, what they do for their constituents, what they do here and what they do on the national scene. We diminish that when we embark on this type of partisan exercise.
I will not deny that were are engaged in a partisan exercise. It is necessary to point to the record on how quickly we sometimes forget what was said. That has been much of the case in Canadian politics and with the government. It will have its record to defend. It will have to explain to Canadians what happened to all that money in the HRDC department. It will have to explain why the Prime Minister was so quick to talk about tearing up the free trade agreement and then expand it when elected. It will have to explain why the Prime Minister said very clearly that he would axe the tax and get rid of the GST and it is still here. If we go to the store we see that we are still paying the GST. It was expanded and harmonized in the maritimes.
However, it was convenient. It is always easy to tell people what they want to hear. There is a public appetite for it, just like this issue with the pensions. People wanted to hear that and the reformers fed it. They fanned those flames to their benefit. Now it is only fair and just that this has come back, and that it has come back, in what some would describe as a very nefarious way, in the last dying days of parliament.
I know that members of my own caucus take issue with the way in which this was brought about. I am certainly not proud of the way this has arrived before us. I, as the House leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, have been a part of it.
However, that is why, at the end of this debate, we will be saying that we cannot support this legislation. We cannot support the way this has been brought about, not because we are against fairness or any form of pension that recognizes work, labour and input, but because we are against hypocrisy. We are against saying one thing because it is politically advantageous and then doing another.
I know that members of the reform party do not want to hear that. It is not consistent with what they have done. There have been all sorts of examples of this as well. It is played out here in the House of Commons on a partisan level every day. However this is one occasion where there is nothing that can be said that will exonerate members of that party. There is nothing that will to replace those words in the minds of constituents who voted for reform members after hearing that they were not going to be a part of the pension plan. Guess what? They are in, they are a part of it and those promises are long gone, just like the promises on the other side of the House that we heard before the previous election.