Mr. Speaker, I want to state that I was elected on June 2, 1997 as a member of the Reform Party of Canada. I was as very proud of that then as I am today, and I will be forever. I have no shame being a member of the Reform Party of Canada. It brought a lot of influence on the government. I am awfully proud of that fact. I am very proud that the former leader of the official opposition, who is now a candidate, had the vision to move the party forward and offer Canadians a choice. I am proud that he was able to do that.
The member has asked me about one of the candidates, Tom Long. Let me tell the member a little about him. I am quite proud to tell the member about the $50 billion that he would not sink down a toilet. Was he involved in the 1984 election when the federal Tories were elected? Yes. Did he come to Ottawa after that election and work for Brian Mulroney personally? Yes.
Mr. Long told me that after what Pierre Elliot Trudeau did in the House, that he would have done anything to get him out. I want say on the record that Mr. Long was employed by former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's office for 18 months. Eighteen months after he arrived in Ottawa he resigned for for his own personal reasons. I believe he wanted to see certain things done but he left 18 months after he got here and went to work with the provincial Tories. As we were building the Reform Party of Canada in the early 1990s, he was out there working side by side with the provincial Tories in Ontario building a parallel track. They have been very successful. I think they should also be applauded for what they have accomplished. They are one of the first governments that made promises and stuck to them. They did not get sidetracked. They did not succumb to the pressure. Did they make mistakes along the way? Yes, they did, and they are fixing those now, but they kept their promises. They promised to cut—