Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has finally called the Perth—Middlesex byelection, six months after John Richardson stepped down as the member of Parliament and four days before the legal deadline.
In the meantime, there have been two Liberal nomination meetings, two Liberal candidates, a botched candidate selection process, an internal Liberal Party investigation into what went wrong and six months during which residents of Perth—Middlesex were deprived of an MP.
In the latest fiasco, the hon. member for LaSalle—Émard cancelled a trip to the riding last Friday, forcing the cancellation with only a few hours' notice of a fundraising dinner. He claimed that weather kept him trapped in Toronto but the sleet and the freezing rain were not enough to keep the Leader of the Opposition from making the very same trip the very same day.
Nor was the weather enough to deter 350 local residents who came out to a dinner in Stratford to hear Canadian Alliance candidate Marian Meinen and the Leader of the Opposition reiterate their support for our American and British allies in their time of need.
Marian Meinen is a proud 30 year resident of the county. She will do it proud as its member of Parliament.