Mr. Speaker, the biggest issue with the bill, as I see it, is the whole argument surrounding the accusation of the benefits of incumbency. Without question, the bill benefits the incumbent much more than anyone else.
The government could easily have addressed that issue and yet chose not to. In the original bill the first date that the bill would apply would have been January 1, 2005. That has been changed to January 1, 2004.
Obviously that means that if the bill is passed it will come into effect prior to the next election. I cannot for the life of me understand why the government, in order to get around the argument and the accusation that the bill benefits the incumbent, did not make the bill effective January 1, 2006. It would be after the next election. All the players, the dynamics and the percentages are unknown at this point in time. Why did that not happen?