Mr. Speaker, I always find it curious that people get upset when someone comes to Ottawa under a particular banner, in their case Reform, now Alliance and in our case Liberal. I am a member of the Liberal team and people should never be shocked that I support my team. It is most interesting to use the analogy of someone playing on my hockey team and shooting the puck into my net on purpose. I do not want that player on the ice any more.
It is pretty fundamental in our system that the vast majority of us, perhaps with the exception of the member for Wild Rose who wins 90% of the votes, come to this place as a result of the allegiance to the party for which we run. In fact individual members will influence between 5% and 8% of the vote.
It should come as no shock to any member that we wind up supporting the particular party for which we were elected in this place. I object to the criticism that we would not support things that are unusual or different. Many of my members over here have voted for private members' bills against the government.
The point is that the motion today would eliminate that issue and should eliminate it so that we can all stand and vote on what are private members' bills. That is why they are called private members' bills. We on all sides of the House should be able to make up our own minds on how we vote.