Madam Speaker, I listened to the comments of the House leader with interest. I noted a couple of glowing tributes to members of the Alliance Party. That is not all that common coming from a Liberal member. I would like to thank him for his candour. The members for Langley--Abbotsford and St. Albert are two members to whom he paid specific tribute.
I look upon a motion like this as though I were not a part of the Parliament of Canada. I look upon this as though I were a citizen simply reviewing this. Motion No. 2, which would return bills at the same stage that they were at the in previous Parliament before prorogation, makes pretty reasonable sense. Reinstating the committee on the non-medical use of drugs, an issue that I am personally interested in, makes sense. Re-establishing prebudget consultation by the finance committee makes sense.
I would like to say to the House leader that this debate would not be necessary if this place were more democratic. I would like him to listen to this portion. He can depart if he wants, but this is the part of this debate that would be sterile if this place were more democratic. Liberal members across have come to me and said, “I have disquiet about a particular bill because I was forced to vote on it by a somewhat autocratic process”. I choose those words in a gentle sense: a somewhat autocratic process. I have had Liberals say to me, “I cannot vote my constituents' wishes on this bill. I am in fact forced to vote otherwise”.
Let me mention two things that would make this place more democratic, and the House leader knows that this is not a debate on everything, if we had free votes in the House of Commons on issues that were not campaign platform issues for the Liberals. If we had an elected Senate, the Senate would be more accountable to the public.