Mr. Speaker, I always enjoy listening to the hon. member, so much so that I allowed him to speak before me, but perhaps he will regret that.
The hon. member said that in the previous government it did not matter what constituents said about the government. He is suggesting that the government did not listen to public opinion or the polls, that the government just went on its merry way. The member is complaining about that, that we should listen to the polls and to what people say, focus groups, et cetera.
I will read from the Star Phoenix of February 1, 2003:
The Canadian Alliance leader tore into the Liberals this week for paying too much attention to the “vagaries” of public opinion regarding the possible war on Iraq and declared his party would not make the same mistake. It was an eyebrow-raising attack from the leader of a party that claims to put great stock in the views of the grassroots and advocates such democratic reforms as citizen-initiated referendums and voter recall of MPs.
“This party will not take its position based on public opinion polls”, he declared during a special parliamentary debate on Iraq. “We will not take a stand based on focus groups. We will not take a stand based on phone-in shows or householder surveys or any other vagaries of public opinion”.
The member is in direct contradiction of his former leader and I wonder why that is. I wonder why the party is so split. Perhaps the member is not supporting the former leader in the leadership race.
However, when the former leader says he will not make decisions like that, in fact the way we are making decisions is the way real leaders of great nations make decisions. Why is the member opposed to his former leader?